CASSIDIDJE; CHRYSOMELnXE. 



137 



FIG. 457. CA8SIDA V1RJDIS, IN ITS DIFFERKNT STATES ; a, 



larva ; 6, tlie same on a leaf, with its covering of excre- 

 ment ; c, pupa ; d, perfect insect. 



prolongation from the thorax and elytra, and which even conceals 

 the head ; and they are able to lie so close upon the surface of 

 the leaves, that no part of the body or limbs is visible. Their 

 colours are much varied, and often very prettily arranged in 

 spots, points, rays, &c. The commonest species in this country 

 is the Cassida viridis, which is about one third of an inch 

 long, of a green colour, with black thighs. Its larva, which lives 



on thistles and arti- 

 chokes, has a very flat 

 body, with spines set 

 on the edges; and it 

 has the singular habit 

 f of covering itself with 

 its own excrement, 

 which it attaches in a 

 mass together, and 

 carries on a sort of 

 fork, arising from its tail. The pupa, also, is very flat, with thin, 

 toothed appendages at the sides of the body ; and its thorax is 

 broad, and prolonged forwards in a rounded expansion, which 

 covers the head. 



719. In the family Chrysomelidce, or Golden Beetles, this 

 expansion of the thorax is generally wanting ; the body is 

 usually of a hemispheric or ovate form, the base of the thorax 

 being as broad as the front edge of the elytra ; and the surface is 



usually bespangled with the 

 most brilliant hues, in 

 which blue, green, and gold, 

 are pre-eminently conspicu- 

 ous. Their motions are 

 generally slow, and many 

 of them are destitute of 

 wings. Of the genus Chry- 

 somela, the C.populi is one 

 of the commonest British species ; it is of a blue-black colour, and 

 has red elytra, tipped with black ; it is found upon the willow 

 and poplar, in the larva as well as in the perfect state. As in the 



FIG. 458. CHRYSOMELA POPULI; a, larva; 

 6, pupa ; c, imago. 



