A VARIABLE INSECT. 155 



is rich, warm chestnut, rather deeply furrowed, and each furrow 

 being marked with a row of bold punctures. Across the elytra 

 run four bands of the deepest purple, shaped as shown in the 

 illustration. Below, it is bright, shining green, punctured like 

 the thorax. 



Now for some of our varieties, of which I shall only describe 

 three or four. One has the elytra chestnut, and in the middle, 

 nearer their base, there is a square violet spot. Exactly in the 

 middle of the elytra is another violet spot shaped like the ace ot 

 diamonds, having a small square spot of the same colour on 

 either side. Then comes a bar which extends nearly but not 

 quite across the elytra, and a patcli of the same hue occupies 

 the extreme tip. Next, perhaps, we find a specimen which has 

 markingsalmost exactly the same in point of shape and number, 

 but deep green instead of purple or violet. Next comes a spe- 

 cimen where a diamond-shaped spot occupies the place of the 

 square mark, and a chevron-shaped mark takes the place of the 

 diamond in the middle. Some of these Beetles, indeed, would 

 do very well to illustrate the elements of heraldry, and it would 

 be very convenient if we could use the heraldic terms, such as 

 " chief," " fesse," " party per pale," &c. &c, in describing colours 

 or marks. 



Some specimens are wholly brown, or very dark green ; 

 some are deep red, with one, two, three, or four bands of violet, 

 blue, purple, black, or green. More than four bands I never 

 saw. Some are so small as to be scarcely one-tenth the size of 

 the specimen which has been figured, and without any marks 

 on the elytra, which are uniform pale brown, the thorax being 

 a few shades darker. 



Being so exceedingly variable a species, it is naturally a very 

 troublesome one to entomologists, who find that colour, size, and 

 marks absolutely go for nothing at all, and have been obliged to 

 discard them from their calculations. In consequence, there are 

 few insects which have been furnished with so many names as 

 this, zoologists having not only considered the varieties as dif- 

 ferent species, but even placed them in different genera. 



We now come to the group of Elaterides, which are possessed 

 of the power of leaping when laid on their backs. If one of the 

 large species be taken, such as those which we are about to 



