122 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



half an inch. The lower surface of the insect is clothed with 

 long and dense hair, of the same colour as the body. The name 

 Bolboc&rus is formed from two Greek words signifying "bulb- 

 horned," and is given fco this insect because the base of the horn 

 is swollen into a sort of bulb. 



Like many of their kin, the Bolboceri fly in the twilight. 

 M. le Vaillant mentions that groat numbers are captured by 

 frogs and toads, and may be found in the stomachs of these 

 creatures. The reader may not be aware that the stomachs of 

 toads are recognised localities for many rare Beetles. The toad 

 is out all night engaged in insect hunting. At dawn the ento- 

 mologist catches him, kills him, opens his stomach, and finds in 

 it plenty of Beetles, some of which are nearly sure to be rarities. 

 I think that the late Rev. F. W. Hope was the first entomologist 

 who made me aware of the value of a toad's stomach to the 

 collector of Beetles. There are plenty of other insects in the 

 same locality, but they are generally too much damaged to 

 be placed in a collection, while the hard ami horny mail ot 

 the Beetle suffers but little injury. 



• ■ ; 



One example of the Hoplidae must also suffice us. In 

 England we have but one representative of this family, namely, 



Hoplia philanthus, a little dark 

 Beetle which flies in the hottest sun- 

 shine, and has a habit of conceal- 

 ing itself in flowers, thus receiving 

 the specific name of philanthus, or 

 " flower-lover." The generic name of 

 Hoplia is taken from a Greek word 

 signifying " a heavy-armed soldier," 

 and is given to the insects on account 

 of their hard mail-clad bodies. 

 (IMack head and thorax; chestnut elytra.) The insect which I have Selected 



at once arrests the eye on account 

 of the extraordinary development of its hinddegs. The whole 

 limb is very powerful, the thigh being largo, stout, and 

 rounded. The greatest development is, however, seen in the 

 tibia, the end of which is very much widened, and is spread 

 into two great horn-like projections, from the junction of which 

 proceeds the long tarsus. The colour of the legs is shining 



Fi. 



Hi. I losoelis grossipes. 



