558 WOOD BEETLES. 



sharply across the horny margin of the other, thus producing 

 the sounds ; the parchmenty wing-cases and the hollow drum- 

 like space they enclose assisting to give resonance to the tones. 

 These notes are the call notes of the males, inviting a mate to 

 his burrow.* 



WOOD BEETLES. 



Enormous as are the trees of the Amazonian forests, and 

 able to withstand the fiercest storms, they have frequently to 

 succumb to the attacks of minute insects. Many a monarch 

 of the woods has been brought low by the efforts of the 

 persevering termites ; but they have other enemies. The 

 palm-trees are assailed by a group of beetles (the Histeridae) 

 which take possession of the moist interior of their stems. 

 One of these is an enormous fellow — the hister maximus. 

 Another group have their bodies as thin as wafers, to enable 

 them to live in the narrow crevices of the bark. One set of 

 species, however (the trypanseus), are totally different, being- 

 cylindrical in shape. They drill holes in the solid wood, and 

 look like tiny animated gimlets when seen at work ; their 

 pointed heads being fixed in the wood, while their smooth 

 glossy bodies work rapidly round so as to create little 

 streams of sawdust from the holes. 



The caribi, which in Europe perform the important duty 

 of scavengers, and live on the gTound, are in South America 

 nearly always found on trees. Some are of enormous size. 



The Hercules beetle, which lives on the mamma Americana, 

 attains a length of five and sometimes six inches. It is 

 known by the singular horn-shaped proboscis rising from the 

 head and thorax, which gives it so formidable an appearance. 

 Its duty is probably to eat up the rotten wood. 



* Bates. 



