100 



INSECTS Ai:i;<>AD. 



Just as we have seen foreign examples of the Dorcus, so the 

 Ccmchus stri.'/iis of Vancouver's Island appears a good example 

 of the foreign Sinodendroa It is larger than our British species, 

 and has the surface even more conspicuously marked. It gains 

 its generic name of Oeruckus, or " horn-bearing," from the two 

 horn-like projections of the head, which are but slightly indi- 

 cated in the Sinodendron When viewed sideways, the head is 

 seen to be bent downwards, flattened and shovel-shaped, so as to 



assist the Beetle in forcing its way 

 through the material in which it 

 lives. Both in the larval and perfect 

 states, these insects, as well as the 

 Dorcus, inhabit rotten wood, so that 

 the infrequency of their appearance 

 in the open air is easily accounted for. 

 The surface of the insect is broken 

 up in a very complicated fashion. The 

 head is covered with large punctures, 

 and so is the thorax, which has also 

 two depressions or pits on each side, so large that they almost 

 look as if they were injuries. The elytra are covered with 

 bold ridges, and both they and the furrows between them 

 are profusely covered with large punctures. According to the 

 system of Lacordaire, this insect forms one of a group called 

 .Ksalides. 



Fig. •''.'. — < Vnu'hus striatus. 

 (Shining black.) 



The next group, called Passalides, is looked upon as a link 

 between the rectinicorn and Lamellicorn Beetles, on account 

 of the form of the larva, which, as we shall see, very much 

 resembles that of a Lamellicorn Beetle. Our example of the 

 group is the fine insect called Kclcus or Passalus intemtptus. 

 It inhabits Deraerara. 



It is really a striking insect, though the colouring is very 

 simple. The body is shining black, but there is a wonderful 

 quantity of silky golden down, which contrasts boldly with the 

 otherwise uniform black. The upper part of the head is thickly 

 covered with this down, which in this place has a dash of orange 

 in it, very much like the beautiful tuft on the head of our 

 golden-crested wren. Tufts of similar hair projeel from the 

 shoulders, and densely clothe the hind tarsi, which look like 



