42 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



power of seeing ; and it is worthy of remark that 

 twenty or thirty young observers will miss exactly 

 the most important detail in an insect structure until 

 it is pointed out by an experienced entomologist, when 

 they will at once see it, and wonder how anything so> 

 obvious could have eluded them. 



In any large genus of insects there is always a 

 difficulty in deciding upon the different species ; and,, 

 even among the moths, where size and colour are 

 tolerably constant, mistakes are continually made. 

 But, among Beetles, these important elements of size 

 and colour go for almost nothing, and whenever green 

 and blue are in question, colour absolutely does go- 

 fer nothing. Now, in the members of the genus 

 Amara, blue and green are the leading hues ; and five 

 individuals, which undoubtedly belong to the same 

 species, may be respectively bluish-green, greenish- 

 blue, brassy, coppery, or even black. Then the head 

 and thorax may be of one colour, and the elytra 

 of another ; so that no dependence can be placed upon 

 so uncertain a characteristic. 



The present species is a very common one. Its 

 colour varies from green to black, glossed with brass. 

 The elytra are striated, and the striae are bolder and 

 deeper towards the apex than at the base. The head 

 is nearly smooth, but has a few striae drawn across it 

 in front. 



WE next come to the large family of the Harpalidae,, 

 of which we shall take one example illustrating the 

 principal genus. The males of the Harpalidae have 

 the four basal joints of the front tarsi dilated, and 

 sometimes the corresponding joints of the middle 



