THE GOLIATH BEETLES. 



329 



MEGASOMA TYPHON. 



of the body, and the still more ex- 

 traordinary Golofa porteri of New 

 Granada, in which the horn rises 

 vertically several inches high from 

 the prothorax. The dark-bronzed 

 Chalcosoma atlas, with long and 

 sharp horns, three in number, rising 

 from head and thorax, well known 

 to collectors, is from the islands of 

 the Malay Archipelago. 



The CetoniincK, or Rosechafers, 

 are easily recognisable by their 

 oblong, usually somewhat flattened 

 form, the generally large triangular scutellum and the wing-covers not covering the apex of the 

 abdomen. They are further distinguishable, on closer examination, by the upper lip being con- 

 cealed under the front edge of the clypeus, and the mandibles reduced to thin membranous blades, with 



a narrow outer margin alone horny. The 

 typical or true Cetoniinre have a still more 

 conspicuous distinguishing character, in the 

 side piece of the mesosternum (or middle 

 breast) being elevated, and introduced be- 

 tween the hind angles of the prothorax 

 and the wing-cases. But this character 

 fails in the group Trickiides, which forms 

 the second division of the sub-family. 



The Cetoniince are the favourite group 

 of Beetle collectors, a distinction they well 

 merit for their unsurpassed beauty of form 

 and colour, the facility of their preserva- 

 tion, and the great numbers and diversity 

 of their species. To the classifier, however, 

 they are less satisfactory, for all the struc- 

 tural characters on which he depends for 

 the definite arranging into genera and 

 higher groups prove here to be extremely 

 unstable. At most, a few groups can be 

 indicated by the agreement of their general 

 figure, or "facies." About 1,200 species 

 have been described. These are moderately 

 numerous, and of little vai-iety of form, in 

 north temperate latitudes ; in the corre- 

 sponding zone of the south, as well as in 

 oceanic islands generally (including New 

 Zealand), they are entirely wanting. But 

 each of the continents and large island 

 groups within the tropical and warm tem- 

 perate zones contains numerous peculiar 

 genera, the richest being tropical Africa, 

 Madagascar (which has a set of types dis- 

 tinct from those of Africa), tropical Asia, 

 the Malay Archipelago, and Australia. 

 America is relatively poor in Cetoniinse, but 

 possesses its own very characteristic genera. 



GOLIATHUS DRVRYI. (Natural Size.) 



232 



