1 52 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



The ground on which my house stands being very 

 high, and the soil being gravel, I was very much 

 surprised at perceiving the Musk Beetle which has 

 just been mentioned, thinking that no willow-trees 

 were near. However, after a while, I came upon 

 some of these trees, at a distance of some 300 yards, 

 growing on the banks of a little stream that ran in the 

 valley below. Sometimes a tree is absolutely riddled 

 with the burrows of these larvae, which bore deeply 

 into the very heart of the timber, and leave little 

 except a shell of bark surrounding a sort of soft 

 wtfoden sponge. 



Those who wish to capture the Musk Beetle will 

 find that they cannot do better than explore the 

 largest, the oldest, and the most rugged willow-trees. 

 The Musk Beetle is not a very active insect, and is 

 fond of clinging to the bark of the willow, and re- 

 maining perfectly still for many hours together. I 

 may mention that the surface of 

 this Beetle affords a most gorgeous 

 object for the microscope. 



OUR next example of the Longi- 

 cornes is a very common and very 

 pretty Beetle, and known to ento- 

 mologists by the name of Clytus 

 arietis. In this genus the antennae 



Clytus arietis. ^ ^^ ^^ ^ body > the last 



joint being somewhat conical. The palpi are short, 

 with the last joint stout and three-sided, the angles 

 being rounded. The thorax is globular, and the body 

 cylindrical. 



