ASPARAGUS BEETLE. 157 



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variety of colour one being perhaps almost black, 

 another blue, another green, another copper, another 

 purple, another red, while another is as made of bur- 

 nished gold. 



The larvae of these Beetles live within the stems 

 of the various water-plants, and on that account the 

 species have derived their names from the plants on 

 which they live. 



Altogether, exclusive of varieties, of which there 

 are a great number, nineteen British species of this 

 beautiful genus are known. In some places these 

 Beetles are so plentiful that seven species have been 

 found on water-plants within the limits of one small 

 pond. 



The present species is shining-green above with a 

 brassy gloss, and below it is silvery-white, owing to 

 the soft down with which it is clothed. There is a 

 bold groove on the front of the head, and the elytra 

 are both striated and ' crenated,' i.e. covered with 

 little marks formed like segments of circles. It is not 

 a very common species, being usually confined to 

 certain localities. 



THE best known species of the genus Crioceris is 

 the ASPARAGUS BEETLE (C. asparagi], which feeds on 

 the plant from which it derives its name. This 

 insect is much longer in the body than the preceding 

 species, though smaller in point of bulk. It is very 

 prettily coloured, the thorax being deep-red, and the 

 head and elytra shining-blue or green-black, the latter 

 being marked with reddish-yellow, so as to look as if 

 they were yellow on which a black cross had been 



