184 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



tured. In the male the antennae are long and slender, as shown 

 in the illustration, but in the female they are comparatively 

 short, being only about one-half as long as the body. There are 

 but a few species of Eupezus, all of which are black, though 

 none are so jetty black, so shining, so large, or so long-legged 

 as Eupezus nigcrrimus. 



Of the family of the Nycteliidre we take as our example Gyrio- 

 soma Leuzotii. With regard to this genus, Lacordaire has the 

 following statement : — " These are large and remarkable insects, 



mostly black, shining, and silky, having 

 on each of the elytra a variable number 

 of oblique channels which are rilled 

 with short, white furry down, lying 

 nearly fiat along the furrows." The 

 present species is a native of Chili. 

 Its colours are pitch black and greyish 

 white, arranged as shown in the illus- 

 tration. The head is black, and so is 

 the thorax, the front angles of which 

 are rounded, and the hinder angles 

 long and pointed. The centre of the 

 upper surface or disc, as it is scientifically termed, is thickly 

 wrinkled. 



The elytra are not punctated, but are covered with irregular 

 stria?. Running from the scutellum towards the tips of the elytra 

 are several white patches. These patches are irregular, not only 

 in shape and size, but even in number, some specimens having 

 only five, while others have six or seven. Beneath, the insect is 

 pitchy black. 



Like most of the Heteromera, this insect is of a shy and 

 retiring disposition, hiding itself under stones and in similar 

 localities, and is slow and sluggish in its movements. 



Fig. 86. — Gyriosoma Leuzotii. 

 (Black and white.) 



The family of the Lagriidre is very familiar to English entomo- 

 logists on account of the only British representative of the family, 

 Lagria hirta, so plentiful in the summer in hedges and upon 

 flowers. The name Lagriidee is formed from a Greek word signify- 

 ing "a hare," and is given to these Beetles on account of the 

 dense and long down with which many of the species are covered. 



