208 INSECTS ABROAD. 



Anotheb example of these lovely Beetles is shown in the 

 illustration below. Its name is Rhigus Schuppellii, and, like the 

 Diamond Beetle, it is a native of Brazil. 



It is much more knobby— if I may use the term — than the 

 preceding insects. On the thorax there are two rows of knobs, 

 and there are eight much larger knobs on the elytra; namely, 

 two rows of three knobs in each row. and one upon each 

 shoulder. The ground colour of the elytra is green, but the 

 knobs are beautiful golden yellow, both colours being produced 



by scales somewhat similar to 



those which have been described 



when treating of the Diamond 



^'' P^^p^^jT" Beetle. There is a distinct gold 



edging to the elytra, which are 

 punctated in parallel lines. The 

 legs are green, and the thighs, 



Fig. lOO.-Rhigus Schuppellii. csueciallv those of the first five 



(Green, with golden projections.) especially tnose Ol mi. nisi im. 



are large and powerful. 

 This is an exceedingly variable insect in point of colour and 

 in the comparative size of the knobs. There is in the British 

 Museum a curious variety of this Beetle, in which the whole 

 of the colour is pale yellow, and the knobs scarcely project ;it 

 all from the surface. The reason for the generic name Rhigus 

 I cannot see, inasmuch as the word is Greek, signifying "a 

 shivering from cold," a circumstance which is scarcely likely 

 to happen in tropical America, and which seems singularly 

 inappropriate to a Beetle. Perhaps the traveller who captured 

 and named the first specimen took an ague, and commemorated 

 it by the name which he gave to the Beetle. 



The Beetle which is represented on the next page belongs to 

 the family of the Brachycerida?. This word signifies " short- 

 horned," and is given to the insects because their antennae are 

 stout and extremely short in proportion to the size of the body. 

 There is plenty of material in them to make long and slender 

 antenna?, like those of the Xenocerus, hut it is utilized in width 

 instead of length, the antennas being small at the base, and 

 gradually increasing in diameter to the tip, which is broad, and 

 blunt. The insects belonging to this family are mostlv African, 

 though some are found on the shores of the Mediterranean. 



