136 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



ceros, and the other curved forward somewhat in the shape of 

 the letter C. The end of the first horn is holdly forked, and its 

 length is exactly two inches in a fair specimen. 



The colouring of the Elephant Beetle is very remarkable. 



The ground colour of the whole insect is black, but, with the 



exception of the first horn, the entire surface is so thickly 



overed with dense, soft, upright fur, that in a perfect specimen 





Ficj. 64. — Megalosoma elephae. 

 (Black, covered with chestnut and yellow fur ) 



the real colour of the Beetle cannot be seen. Such an insect, 

 however, is very seldom found, and, as the fur comes off easily, 

 almost every specimen has several bare patches from which the 

 fur has been rubbed, and which show the black hue of the surface. 

 There is another species of the same genus, Mcr/alosoma 

 Actccon, in which the surface is entirely black and wrinkled. 

 Upon the second horn the fur is dark chestnut brown, and a 



