HISPA HISTERIDvE. 



becoming in high condition before they take their 

 departure for the winter. When they resort to these 

 ]>laces, they generally do it in dense crowds, so that 

 though individually of small size, their accumulated 

 numbers make them objects of some importance to the 

 fowlers, who will sometimes kill from one hundred to 

 two hundred at one shot 



There is a sand martin or bank swallow on the 

 continent of North America ; but as it does not 

 appear to differ much from the European one, it does 

 not require any detailed notice ; but we may remark 

 that it is singular that this species of swallow should 

 be common to the two continents, when it does not 

 appear that any of the rest are so. In south and cen- 

 tral America, there are many species of swallows ; 

 but this article has already extended to so great a 

 length, that we shall only mention one or two of the 

 more remarkable. Before doing this, we may state 

 that there is a very considerable difference between 

 the migratory birds of our northern hemisphere and 

 those of the southern one. This is what, from the 

 physical circumstances of the two hemispheres, as 

 well as from the lower latitude to which the land 

 extends in the south, we might be prepared to expect. 

 The openness of the southern ocean, which is never 

 interrupted by ice at any of the three points of Van 

 Diemen's Land, Southern Africa, and South America, 

 admits of a complete circulation of the ocean waters, 

 and of the atmosphere over them, by means of which 

 the characters of the equatorial and polar parts of 

 that hemisphere are kept within their own zones ; and 

 thus, though the southern hemisphere is, latitude for 

 latitude, colder than the northern upon the whole, yet 

 the seasonal differences for any one latitude are 

 much smaller ; and this circumstance necessarily occa- 

 sions a corresponding difference in the movements of 

 the seasonal birds. This is not the place for fully 

 working out all the peculiarities of this difference, 

 even though our limits permitted ; but without taking 

 this consideration along with us, we should be some- 

 what puzzled with the fact, that the southern swal- 

 lows are comparatively resident, or at all events much 

 more confined in their migrations than the northern 

 ones. 



THE WHITE-BUMPED SWALLOW OF PARAGUAY (H. 



Leucorrhci) is rather a social species, and fond of 

 coming near human habitations, and also of following 

 travellers and their mules and horses in crossing the 

 country. It is a resident species in the valley after 

 which it is named, and also in other parts of South 

 America. Its length is about five inches and a half ; 

 the upper part blue with reflections ; the quills.coverts 

 and tail-feathers dull black ; the rump, a streak over 

 the eye, and all the under part white. This species 

 builds indiscriminately in the thick heads of the palm 

 tree and in holes of the ground, constructing its nest 

 of vegetable fibres lined with hair and feathers. The 

 entrance is in the side, and made so narrow that no 

 animal larger than itself can enter, and so deep that 

 neither the eggs nor the young can be got out with- 

 out pulling the nest to pieces. 



THE DOMESTIC SWALLOW OF PARAGUAY (H.domes- 

 tica) approaches in its manners the swallows with 

 which we are most familiar. It is blackish blue on 

 the upper part, and velvet black on the cheeks, the 

 quills, and coverts of the wing and tail-feathers. The 

 sides of the head are brownish black, the front of the 

 neck and flanks whitish, clouded with brown ; the 

 breast and belly white ; the bill black ; the feet violet 



765 



black in front, and reddish behind ; and the tail very 

 much forked. This species is very common in South 

 America, resorting to cabins and country houses in 

 thi-nly inhabited places, and to the churches and 

 larger buildings in the towns. It constructs its nest 

 externally of mud, but lines it with vegetable matter 

 and feathers. The eggs are two or three in number. 

 This swallow is more migrant than the one last men- 

 tioned, moving toward the equator during the south- 

 ern winter, and northward during the summer. Such 

 s a specimen of South American swallows. 



HISPA (Linnaeus). A genus of coleopterous 

 nsects belonging to the section Tctramera, and 

 'amily CassulidcE, having the jaws short, with two or 

 three smaller minal teeth. The antennae are cylindrical, 

 approximated at the base ; and the thorax and elytra 

 often clothed with acute spines. There is one re- 

 puted British species of small size (H. atra], but 

 America is very rich in the individuals of this genus. 

 HISTERID^E (Leach). An extensive family of 

 small coleopterous insects belonging to the section 

 Pentamcra, and subsection Clavicornes, of Latreille, 

 distinguished by having the antennae short, elbowed 

 at the end of the first long joint, the four posterior 

 legs inserted widely apart, the legs spinose and con- 

 tractile. The club of the antenna? is nearly round, 

 and then jointed, and the elytra are shorter than the 

 abdomen, and rounded behind. The body is of a 

 very hard consistence, and generally of a square form ; 

 the jaws are very strong and horny, and the palpi 

 filiform. In several respects, as in the toothed legs 

 and widely-inserted legs, these insects approach some 

 of the lamellicorn beetles, but in their internal ana- 

 tomy they seem more nearly allied to the Silphee. 

 The derivation of the name of this group has some- 

 what perplexed entomologists ; they, however, appear 

 to agree that it is derived from Histrio, a stage- 

 player, although the cause of such derivation remains 

 unknown. Herbet, indeed, supposes that the short 

 square elytra, with red spots, in some of the species, 

 might have suggested the name, in allusion to the 

 dress of a buffoon. We, however, see a difficulty in 

 the matter when we look to the natural history of the 

 insect, which in England have thence obtained the 

 name of mimic beetles, from the admirable facility 

 with which they feign death when alarmed, by with- 

 drawing their antennae, and folding up their legs, so 

 as to resemble a small black stone, or a seed ; indeed, 

 one of the species is hence called Seminulum. They 

 feed upon bones, or other decaying animal matter, 

 as well as upon dung and rotting vegetables. They 

 creep but slowly. Their colours are shining black, 

 or sometimes somewhat metallic. 



This family corresponds with the Linnaean genus 

 Ulster, which", from its great extent, and the modifi- 

 cations of structure in different groups, has been 

 divided into various genera by recent authors, amongst 

 whom the memoirs of Dr. Leach, in the Zoological 

 Miscellany, and of Dr. Erichson, in the Jahrbiicher, 

 are especially valuable. There are about fifty British 

 species divided into the genera Abrams, Orithophilus, 

 Hister, Dendrophilus, and Platysmna. The typical 

 genus, Hister, has the body depressed, the four 

 posterior tibia? with a double series of spines, and the 

 prosternum advanced beneath the mouth. The species 

 are very numerous, and chiefly distinguished by the 

 number of spines on the tibiae, the striae, and punctures 

 upon the elytra and thorax. The type of the genus 

 is the H.unicoior (Linnaeus), a very abundant species, 



