260 



INSISTS ABROAD. 



it looks just like a ripe black currant. The elytra are violet in 

 (■(.lour, thickly punctated, very short and rounded, and appear 

 like mere useless excrescences on the back of the insert. 



The male Metacycla is quite different in shape, the body being 

 quite twice as long as it is wide, and the elytra reaching to its 



end. There are several species of this genus, 

 among which may be mentioned Metacycla 

 turgida, which is yellow, and lias the elytra 

 decorated with six large black spots. Also 

 there are several allied genera, such as Meta- 

 lepta and Rwpilia. Some of these insects 

 might easily be mistaken for Rove Beetles, 

 their bodies being long and their elytra very 

 short. One of the most notable of them is 

 Rwpilia ruficollis, a native of New South 

 Wales. It derives its name of ruficollis, 

 i r G ise -Metacycla sauei. ov " red neck," from the bright ruddy chest- 

 (Biack, with violet elytra.) nu t f its thorax, whieh hue extends to its 



head. The elytra are blue in some specimens 

 and green in others, and the abdomen is chestnut, like the thorax. 

 We have in England two little Chrysomcliche which present 

 exactly similar peculiarities. They belong to the genus Gastro- 

 physa, i.e. "swollen-belly," and may generally be found in the 

 common dock. 



The insect which is here repre- 

 sented is an exceedingly variable one, 

 especially in point of size, many 

 specimens being so small as to look 

 by the side of others like dwarfs be- 

 side giants. It also varies in colour. 

 The head and thorax are always 

 shining yellow, but the elytra are 

 sometimes green and sometimes 

 black, though, as the name of the in- 

 sect implies, they are mostly purple. 



This is a very large genus, containing some splendidly coloured 

 Beetles. Aplusonyx basalts, a species which inhabits Manilla, is 

 curiously and boldly marked, the upper half of the elytra being 

 shining jetty black, and the lower half yellow. Another species, 



i'i.. 



127. — Aplosonyx purpnrasaeus. 

 (Yellow and purple. ) 



