212 NATUEAL HISTORY OF 



and thorax are comparatively smooth. The female 

 is much smaller, and the hinder thighs are not so 

 thick as in the male. Like the common Cockcha- 

 fer, this species lives in society, and was sometimes 

 observed in great numbers by the distinguished tra- 

 vellers who first brought it to Europe. 



RUTELA PULCHELLA. 



PLATE XV. FIG. I. 

 Kirby, Linn. Trans, xii. p. 405, pi. 21, fig. 10. 



This genus includes such insects as have the hin- 

 der thighs scarcely differing in the two sexes ; the 

 scutellum rather small, and the pointed process of 

 the sternum short, and not reaching to the insertion 

 of the forelegs. The terminal joint of the maxillary 

 palpus is large and ovate. The body is of an oval 

 form. The species given as an illustration of this 

 generic group is a native of Brazil. It is about 

 eight lines and a half in length, of a fine yellow co- 

 lour inclining to green. The thorax is green in the 

 middle, and yellow on the sides and anterior edge. 

 The elytra are thickly covered with small punctures, 

 which have a tendency to form lines : the colour is 

 yellow, with the region of the scutellum, and a curv- 

 ed band behind the middle, green. 



