265 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE ENTOMOLOaiCAL WONDERS OF THE TROPICS. 



Gradual Decrease of Insect-life on advancing towards the poles — Vast number 

 of Beetles in Brazil — The Hercules Beetle —The Goliath — The Inca Beetle- 

 Other colossal Insects — The Walking-leaf and Walking-stick Insects — The 

 Soothsayer — Luminous Beetles — The Cocujas. 



ON advancing from the temperate regions to the pole, we find 

 that insect-life gradually diminishes in the same ratio as 

 vegetable life declines. 



Thus, on Melville Island (75° N. lat), where the flora of the 

 ice-bound soil is reduced to the scantiest proportions, but six 

 insects were found during the whole eleven months of Parry's 

 sojourn in the solitude of Winter Harbour; and so great is 

 their scarcity in Nowaja Semlja^ that the Kussian academician. 

 Von Baer, could not discover a single grub or worm in the 

 carcase of a walrus, which had evidently been lying a long 

 time upon the beach. 



The inverse takes place on advancing towards the equator; 

 for as the sun rises more and more to the zenith, we find 

 the insects gradually increasing with the multiplicity of 

 plants, and at length attaining the greatest variety of form, 

 and the highest developement of number, in those tropical lands 

 where moisture combines with heat in covering the ground 

 with a dense and everlasting vegetation. Thus, while not a 

 single species of beetle is found on Melville Island, G-reenland 

 (60°-70° N. lat.) boasts of 11 ; Lapland (64°-?!° N. lat.) of 

 813 ; and Sweden (56°-60°) of 2,083 Coleoptera. In the milder 

 climate of England (50°-60°) their number increases to 

 2,263; iu sunnier France (4r-51°) it rises to 4,200; and the 

 hothouse temperature of Brazil, from Eio Janeiro to Bahia, 

 fosters no less than 7,500 specific forms of beetle-life. Thus, 



