ENTOMOLOGY. 43 



short intervals, and could be distinguished at about 

 twenty yards' distance : I am certain there is no 

 error in the observation. 



I was disappointed in the general aspect of the 

 Coleoptera. The number of minute and obscure- 

 ly-coloured beetles is exceedingly great.* The 

 cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast only of the 

 larger species from tropical climates. It is suffi- 

 cient to disturb the composure of an entomologist's 

 mind, to look forward to the future dimensions of a 

 complete catalogue. The carnivorous beetles, or 

 Carabidae, appear in extremely few numbers with- 

 in the tropics : this is the more remarkable when 

 compared to the case of the carnivorous quadru- 

 peds, which are so abundant in hot countries. I was 

 struck with this observation both on entering Bra- 

 zil, and when I saw the many elegant and active 

 forms of the Harpalidee re-appearing on the tem- 

 perate plains of La Plata. Do the very numerous 

 spiders and rapacious Hymenoptera supply the 

 place of the carnivorous beetles'? The camon- 

 feeders and Brachelytera are very uncommon ; on 

 the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chrysomeli- 

 dce, all of which depend on the vegetable world 

 for subsistence, are present in astonishing numbers. 

 I do not here refer to the number of ditterent spe- 

 cies, but to that of the individual insects ; for on 

 this itjis that the most striking character in the en- 

 tomology of different countries depends. The or- 

 ders Orthoptera and Hemiptera are particularly 

 numerous ; as likewise is the stinging division of 

 * I may mention, as a common instance of one day's (June 23d) 

 collecting, when I was not attending particularly to the Coleop- 

 tera, that I caught sixty-eight species of that order. Among 

 these, there were only two of the Carabidse, four Brachelytra, 

 fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen of the Chrysomelidae. Thir- 

 ty-seven species of Arachnids, which I brought home, will be 

 sufficient to prove that I was not paying overmuch attention to 

 the generally favoured order of Coleoptera. 



