68 



THE AMERICAN BEE .lOURNAL 



horse, or a horse-chestnut; testaceous or tc^ta- 

 ceux, or lateritim, are synonomous, but used 

 with rather a diversity of meaning from authors 

 being unacquainted with the meaning of the 

 words in Latin. The color to which they should 

 propcrl}' be confined is that of brick-dust. Fer- 

 ruginous or ferrugiyicovs, is rust-colored or 

 brown with a good deal of red iir it. 



Keds — rufous or rufuo, the color of copper; 

 sanguineous, or sanguineus, is the color of 

 blood; rubrous or ruber, is a clear, unmixed 

 red; miniatous or miniatus, the color of red 

 lead; coccineous or coccinens, is the most bril- 

 liant red, the colorof the blossom of the horse- 

 shoe geranium; roseous or roseus, is the color 

 of the rose: puniceous or ptmiceus, is a red, 

 inclining to orange. 



Yellows — golden-yellow, orange, ar aureus, 

 the color of an orange; croceous or croceus, the 

 color of the blossom of a crocus, rather brighter 

 than orange: flaveous or Jlavus, a pure, un- 

 mixed yellow, the color of the blossom of a sun- 

 flower; stramineous or stramlneus, paler than 

 the last, the color of straw; but rather brighter 

 and purer; sulphureous or sulphurcus, a pale, 

 delicate yellow, the color of powdered brim- 

 stone; luteous, or luteus, the color of the yolk 

 of an egg: lutose or Zj^/Iosms, the color of yellow 

 clay; tawny or fulvus, the color of the lion. 



Gkeen — glaucous or glaucus, is that pale 

 grey green Avhich is the usual color of the sea; 

 prasinous or prasinus, is the color of the leaves 

 of leeks; olive or olivarius, is the color of 

 olives, a dull green, or a green with brown 

 in it. 



Blues — caeruleus or cmruleus, is the color of 

 the sky; cyaneous or cyaiieus, a pure brignt 

 blue, the color of the blossom of the (Jentaurea 

 Cyanus. This color has been erroneously de- 

 scribed as that of indigo. Cjcsious, or castas 

 is an impure, greyish blue; violaceous or viola- 

 ceu<, has a mixture of red in it, and is preclselj' 

 the color of the purple violet; frosted ov prui- 

 nosits, expresses that color which objects pos- 

 sess when covered with a light coat of hoar 

 frost; it may be said to approximate to a blue 

 grey. 



Whites — albous or albus, is a pure white; 

 whitish or albidus, is a dirty, or impure white; 

 grey or canus, the color of grey hair, and more 

 properly confined to descriptions of hair; cine- 

 reous or Ci?ie?'e2fs, the blue grey color of ashes; 

 cretaceous or cretacmis, the white of chalk, or 

 white with a slight tint of yello^v' ochre; niveous 

 ovniveus, is a brilliant, snowj' white. 



Besides these there are various metallic col- 

 ors common in insects, as silvery or argantius, 

 brassy or cheneus, likewise Avritten aneas, and 

 then used to imply a bright gold-green; the 

 Latin word smaragdinus implies a still more 

 intense degree of the same color; coppery, or 

 cupreus; and steel blue, or chalybeus. 



Tlie degree of intensity in a color is usually 

 implied by the addition of an adjective; thus 

 saturatus implies that a color is very deep and 

 full; dilatus implies that it is pale; again, Imtus, 

 very bright, and obaoletus, very dull or indis- 

 tinct, are contrasted in the same manner, and 

 may, by altering the termination, be used ad- 



verbially; thus Icte, cvprexts, obsolete, glancds; 

 saturatus and dilutvs do not allow this change. 



A diversity of color occurs very frequently in 

 the same insect, and the shape or limit of a color 

 is impressed by a descriptive word; as a spot, 

 or macula, signifying a roundish or angular 

 mark, not elongated in any direction. Asa-ipe, 

 or plaga, is the term used when the spot is more 

 elongated; a fillet, or a vitta, is a longitudinal 

 stripe, and a band, or fai^cia is a transverse 

 one. 



The terms used to express shape should be 

 precisely in accordance with those used by the 

 Latin authors. Their copious language may be 

 readily applied to any figures which we may- 

 meet, and technical nomenclature in this branch 

 of the subject involves the description in ob- 

 scurity instead of elucidating it. 



The characters impressed in the surface of 

 the skeleton are highly important, and afford 

 excellent guides for the discrimination of spe- 

 cies. As a more minute detail of these appears 

 indispensable, the following are the principal 

 variations: 



Smooth, Icevis, or Icemgattis, is when the sur- 

 face is perfectly smooth, without depression or 

 elevation; shining, nitidus, or lucidus, Avheu the 

 surface is polished as a mirror; rough, asper or 

 scaber, when covered with an irregular rugosit}'; 

 pustulose, or pus tulosus, when covered with pus- 

 tules resembling those occasioned by the small 

 pox; rauricated, or muricatus, is when these 

 pustules are pointed, and ecMnatus when they 

 are produced into spines; verrucose, or verru- 

 cosus, when covered with tubercles resembling 

 warts; punctured, or j)U7ictus, is when the sur- 

 face has the appearance of having been thickly 

 punctured by the point of a pin, the pin not 

 passing through, but simpl}' making impres- 

 sions; punctured in lines, or striopunctus, is 

 when these punctures are arranged in longitu- 

 dinal lines; reticulate, or reticulatus, when tol- 

 erably smooth, yet covered with something like 

 network; vermiculate, or vcrrniculatus, when 

 covered with tortuous markings like worm- 

 eaten wood; striate, or striatus, is when mark- 

 ed with longitudinal impressed lines; and punc- 

 tostriatus is when these lines are themselves 

 punctured; caniculate, or caniculatus, is when 

 the impressed lines are coarser and deeper than 

 the foregoing; and sulcate, or sulcatus, is when 

 they are still deeper, resembling furrows; line- 

 ate, or Uneatus, has lines in the same degree as 

 striatus, but the lines instead of being impress- 

 ed; are raised above the surface; keeled, or car - 

 inatus, is when these raised lines are fewer and 

 more elevated; and chained, or cateaatus, is 

 when the space between two impressed lines is 

 divided into oblong elevations, and is supposed 

 to resemble a chain. 



A surface is called lomentose or lanuginosus, 

 when covered with a thick down; sericeous, or 

 sericaius, when the down is short, thick, and 

 silky; villose or Hllosus, when the surface is 

 covered with longer and more distinct hairs; 

 hirsute or Jiirsuius, when covered with long, 

 shagg}'' hair; crinite or crinitvs, Avlien the hair 

 is very long and thin; squamous, or squameus, 

 when covered with distinct scales. — Newman. 



