320 



INSECTS ABROAD. 



mens the band exists, and is very conspicuous. The thorax is 

 covered with a coating of very fine down. The elytra are very 

 narrow, and of a pale brown colour, with a black stripe along 

 the centre. 



The chief beauty of the insect is not seen until it expands its 

 wings, which arc extremely delicate, and of very great size when 

 compared with the dimensions of the insect. Indeed, so small 

 are the elytra, and so large are the spread wings, that the insect 

 bears a most curious resemblance to an earwig, as may be seen by 

 comparing the figure of the Rhipipteryx with that of Forficcsila 

 Americana, on page 281. The name Rhipipteryx refers to the 



size and shape of the wing, being 

 formed of two Greek words, the 

 former of which signifies " a fan," 

 and the other " a wing." 



This species is a native of 

 Mexico. Small as it is, there 

 are others very much smaller ; 

 one of them, an inhabitant of 

 Ceylon, being no larger than a 

 common gnat, for which it might 

 easily be mistaken. Its name is 

 Bhipipteryx(oTTridactylus) nigro- 

 cencus. Writing of the strange 

 shapes assumed by foreign Achetidae, Mr. Westwood makes the 

 following remarks : — " I possess several very curious minute 

 species belonging to this family, which singularly represent 

 Coleopterous insects. Of these, a Brazilian species has all the 

 appearance and even colours of a Cicindela; whilst a small 

 Mauritian species has the wing-cases thick and glossy, oval, 

 convex, and meeting with a straight suture, exactly like elytra 

 (of beetles)." 



Pio. 159. — Rhipipteryx marginatum 

 (Brown yellow, ami black thorax.) 



THE next family is the Locust ida\ The insects belonging to 

 Ibis family may be known by their elytra, which are "so deflexed" 

 when at rest, i.e. turned down on either side of the body, that 

 the general shape of the insect much resembles that of a gabled 

 roof. The antenna) are slender, but moderate in length, and all 

 the tarsi have three joints. The two latter characteristics are 

 useful in separating this family from that which immediately 



