DANCING APKONS. 1-17 



pensates the Beetle for this defect, as it almost always turns 

 over before it reaches the ground, and comes down with its feet 

 well under it. 



Such a process requires also a peculiar structure of the thorax. 

 If the three parts of which it is composed are fixed tightly 

 together the insect cannot leap, but if they are loosely jointed 

 it can bend itself about in the way that has been described. 

 Although many, not to say most, of the Sternoxi have this 

 power, such is not the case with some of them, among which 

 are the family of the Buprestidse, to which our first few examples 

 belong. All these Beetles have their heads sunk deeply into 

 the thorax, and the antennas short, boldly toothed, and inserted 

 in cavities. 



We have but few species of Buprestidie in England, and they 

 are but small and insignificant. Abroad, however, the Buprestidse 

 attain considerable dimensions, and many of them are so magni- 

 ficently coloured as to take rank among the most splendid of the 

 insect race. If anyone wishes to know what colour can do for 

 an insect, he should visit the splendid collection of Buprestidse 

 made by the late Rev. F. W. Hope, and now in the Oxford 

 Museum. As a rule their surfaces are highly polished, and they 

 glow with every imaginable hue, the colours flitting from spot to 

 spot as the light changes. Green and crimson are the two pre- 

 vailing hues, but they are relieved by gold, fiery copper, azure, 

 and purple. 



This being the case, it is a matter of rule that the insects 

 should be largely used as ornaments. Sometimes they are 

 employed entire, but generally the wing-cases alone are used. 

 In India, for example, the green wing-cases of a Buprestis are 

 sewn in patterns upon dresses, sometimes formed into leaf-like 

 groups, and often running in a pattern along the edge. The 

 same wing-cases are also used as ornaments for baskets, fans, 

 and other similar objects. 



Among the savage tribes of Guiana the elytra of certain 

 Buprestidse are in great favour. They are strung loosely on the 

 lovely feather aprons which the natives wear while executing 

 their dances ; and as the dancers move, the hard, pendant elytra 

 clatter together in time to the steps. Children's rattles are also 

 made of the same materials, the elytra being hung round a little 

 wooden hoop, and sometimes three or four such hoops being 



L 2 



