THE BLADDER ELY, 



755 



deep blue, this colour being imperceptible except with a strong 

 light directed upon the insect from the side. The wings are 

 rather dark brown at the base, and become lighter towards 

 the tips. 



Of the family Acroceridae we shall take two examples, the 

 first of which is Tricopthalma vetelinea, a native of Australia. 



This pretty insect is 

 covered with a thick dark ~ — : : . 

 brown down, which has a 

 velvety look about it. On 

 the sides of the thorax is 

 long grey down, and the 

 longitudinal stripes upon 

 it are white. The abdo- 

 men is also brown, but the 

 edge of each segment is 

 marked out with a narrow 

 ring of short bright golden 



Fig. 4£)6.— Tricopthalma vetelinea. 

 (Brown, whits, and yellow. 



hairs. There are many 

 species of this genus, most 

 of which are Australasian, though some are found in Southern 



Africa, and others in Europe. 



The rather odd-looking insect which goes by the name of 



Exetasis tvmras is a na- 

 tive of Brazil. In order 

 to show its structure the 

 better, the figure has been 

 enlarged about one-third. 

 The ground colour of 

 shining 



the insect is 

 black, but the whole of 

 the thorax and a great 

 part of the abdomen are 

 covered with thick tawn}^ 

 down, looking very much 

 like the fur of a mole. 

 The edges of the segments 



Fig. 497.— Exetasis tumens. 

 (Brown and black.) 



of the abdomen, however, are without the downy coating, so 



3c 2 



