THE BLOODY-NOSE BEETLE AND THE LADYBIRD. 621 



The Musk Beetle is a large insect, common in most parts of England. 

 It is extremely plentiful at Oxford, and is found in old willow trees, 

 with which Oxford is surrounded. Its peculiar scent, something re- 

 sembling that of roses, often betrays its presence when its green color 

 would have kept it concealed. When touched it emits a curious sound, 

 not unlike that of the bat, but more resembling the faint scratching of 

 a perpendicularly-held slate pencil. Its larva bores deep holes in the 

 trees, which are often quite honeycombed by them. 



As in the preceding family, the Longicorn Beetles pass their larval 

 state in wood, sometimes boring to a considerable depth, and sometimes 

 restricting themselves to the space between the bark and the wood. The 

 grubs practically possess no limbs, the minute scaly legs being entirely 

 useless for locomotion, and the movements of the grub being performed 

 by alternate contraction and extension of its ringed body. In order to 

 aid in locomotion the segments are furnished with projecting tubercles, 

 which are pressed against the sides of the burrow. 



Passing by several families, we come to the Chrysomelidse, which are 

 round-bodied, and in most cases very brilliantly colored with shining 

 green, purple, blue, and gold, of a peculiar but indescribable lustre. 

 They are slow walkers, but grasp the leaves with a wonderfully firm 

 hold. The British species of Chrysomela are very numerous. One of 

 the genera belonging to this family contains the largest British speci- 

 men of these beetles, commonly known by the name of the Bloody- 

 nose Beetle {Timarchatenebricosa),oii account of the bright-red fluid 

 which it ejects from its mouth and the joints of its legs when it is 

 alarmed. This fluid is held by many persons to be a specific in case of 

 toothache. It is applied by means of permitting the insect to emit the 

 fluid on the finger and then rubbing it on the gum, and the effects are 

 said to endure for several days. The larva of this beetle is a fat- 

 bodied, shining, dark green grub, which may be found clinging to 

 grass, moss, or hedgerows in the early summer. It is so like the per- 

 fect insect that its identity cannot be doubted. 



The family of the Coccinellidse, or Ladybirds, is allied to the Chry- 

 somelidie, and is well known on account of the pretty little spotted in- 

 sects with which we have been familiar from our childhood. Though 

 the Ladybird is too well known to need description, it may be men- 

 tioned that it is an extremely useful insect, feeding while in the larval 

 state on the aphides that swarm on so many of our favorite plants and 

 shrubs. The mother Ladybird always takes care to deposit the eggs in 

 spots where the aphides most swarm, and so to secure an abundant sup- 

 ply of food for the future offspring. 



