<+> Fauna : Invertebrates 



Liberian forests as in those of Uganda and the Congo Free 

 State. There are very few species peculiar to Liberia, and the 

 appended list represents most of the butterflies known in Sierra 

 Leone, the Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, and the Niger Delta. 



The BEETLES of this country are also slightly disappointing 

 as compared to the extraordinary forms furnished by the 

 Cameroons and Gaboon and the interior of the Congo Forest. 

 Amongst interesting types, however, may be mentioned the 

 Ceratorrhina beetles, remarkable for the beautiful or delicate 

 coloration of their elytra (wing cases) and for the extraordinary 

 rhinoceros horns borne by most of the males. One species 

 (C. auratd) has the elytra delicately gilded, in another species 

 these wing cases are dove-grey lined and spotted with black. 

 The ceratorrhines are near allies of the large Goliath beetle, 

 which so far has not been found in Liberia. The large white 

 beetle grubs found in palm midribs and in decaying wood in 

 the forests, which are such a favourite article of diet with the 

 indigenous natives, develop into large shiny black beetles of the 

 family Passalid<e. The white larvae possess a stridulating organ 

 and probably remain several years in the larval stage. The 

 Paussid beetles possess antennas of extraordinary halberd-like 

 form. They are small reddish brown insects that pass their 

 lives (when mature) in ants' nests, flying about at night and 

 entering dwellings when attracted by a light. They are able 

 in their own defence to squirt a nasty-smelling vapour or gas 

 from the abdomen. 



The Fireflies of Liberia are probably one or more species 

 of Diaphanes, a lampyrid beetle. The power of producing 

 light from under the wing cases in the males (and perhaps 

 from the lower abdomen in the female) is intermittent, but at 

 some seasons very vivid. It is not due to phosphorescence, 

 but (according to entomological authorities) to " the slow 



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