158 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



laid. The larvae are grey, soft-bodied creatures, and, 

 together with the perfect insect, can be found in any 

 number upon the asparagus after it has been allowed 

 to run to seed, and wave its feathery branches and 

 pretty round fruit in the air. 



Now we come to a family in which most of the 

 species are brilliantly coloured ; and even those in 

 which the hue is apparently of a sombre cast are seen, 

 when closely examined, to be really clothed with as 

 much beauty as their more conspicuous relatives. 

 This family is called the Chrysomelidoe, a name which 

 is composed of two Greek words, signifying ' golden 

 apple,' and is appropriately given to these Beetles on 

 account of the globular shape of their bodies, and the 

 lovely tints with which they are adorned. In these 

 Beetles the head is very far sunk in the thorax, but, 

 not so deeply as in the last-mentioned family, and the 

 antennae are stouter, shorter, and more thickened 

 towards the tip. The body is oval or round, and the 

 legs are of equal size. In the 

 genus Timarcha, from which our 

 example is taken, the wings are 

 not developed, and the elytra are 

 firmly soldered together at the 

 suture, so that they cannot be 

 opened. 



Herewith is represented an 

 insect which is very plentiful, and 

 isevigata. known by the name of Timarcha 

 Icevigata. It is better known, however, by the popu- 

 lar name of BLOODY-NOSE BEETLE, because it has 



