346 NATURAL HISTORY. 



into a narrow waist, like the Wasps, thus rendering still more exact their resemblance to the smaller 

 solitary species of that family, to which they are also similar in their light brown and yellow-banded 

 style of colours and markings. Others, in order to resemble deceptively little Bees, have tufts of hairs 

 on their hind shanks, representing the dilated pollen-gathering tibiae of the Bees. These extraordinary 

 little creatures are usually rare in the countries where they are found, and although the species ai-e 

 very numei-ous, they are not common in collections, and are consequently but little known. Another 

 and very differently coloured set of forms are the Gallichromce Longicorns of large size, and long and 

 graceful forms, coloured golden-green, blue, purple, and violet, furnished with very long antennae, and 

 much lengthened hind legs, the shanks of which, in some species, have leaf-like expansions. To this 

 group, distributed in many scores of species over the warmer countries of the earth, the well-known 

 British Musk-beetle (Aromia moschata) belongs. The early stages of this insect are passed in the 

 trunks and stems of willows, and the perfect insect is common in most parts of England on young 

 willow-branches in osier-beds. It emits a strong odour, slightly musky, of attar of roses, a property 

 which is common to the whole group to which it belongs, and which is much more powerful in 

 some of the exotic species. The volatile secretion producing the smell is emitted by two glands 

 situated in the metathorax of the insect. 



The third and last sub-family, the Lamiince, more numerous, though not more varied, than the 

 Cerambycince, are almost exclusively confined, in the adult stage, to the branches and trunks of trees, 

 rarely being found on foliage, and never on flowers. In gnawing the bark or wood as food, or in pre- 

 paring a nidus for the deposition of eggs, they cling to the surface with their generally powerful legs 

 and claws, and their mouths being thus brought into contact with the wood, they ply their mandibles 

 with great ease and precision. In accordance with this habit, their foreheads are vertical and usually 

 at right angles with the longitudinal axis of the body, which is never quite the case with the other 

 sub-families of Longicorns. To this, however, there are exceptions in the numerous remarkable 

 Australasian group of Tmesisterni, which, although belonging to the Lamiince, have oblique 

 foreheads like the Cerambycince ; a more constant character is therefore used to distinguish the 

 sub-family, viz., the existence of an oblique groove on the inner side of the anterior tibiae, which is 

 observable in every species without exception. The prevailing livery of the Lamiiiise is a clothing of 

 fine adpressed hairs, coloured in a variegated pattern to resemble bark or wood. In a large number of 

 species the resemblance of the insect in colour and markings to the bark of the particular tree on 

 which it lives is most exact. Such is the case with the Brazilian Onychocerus Scorpio, and the 

 numerous species of Acanthoderes, Oreodera, and many others. The huge Omacantha gigas, a native 

 of the Gold Coast of Western Africa, resembles a branch with a patch of dark mould on each side. 

 Several genera are composed of long and slender species, having all a streaked patch, of a different 

 colour from the rest of the body, at their tails, so that they imitate with curious exactitude broken 

 twigs, the coloured tip of the body resembling a section of the wood. Some of the genera, however, 

 consist of insects of a brighter style of coloration and markings, and a few shine with metallic lustre. 

 The larger and handsomer species are found chiefly in tropical Africa, and in the Indian and Malayan 

 regions. The last-named zoological province furnishes the gigantic Batocerce, some of which have 

 robust antennae, nearly a foot in length, and armed with briar-like spines ; and in Northern India and 

 Assam occur the Aristobue, with tesselated orange and black colours and elegantly tufted antennae. 

 The Mediterranean region furnishes a numerous wingless group (Dorcadion), found only on the 

 ground amongst herbage, the larvae feeding on roots. In the forests of North and South America 

 a set of species are found, of nearly cylindrical form, which have the singular habit of gnawing 

 branches of trees all round, to a depth sufficient to cause the bough to break and fall to the ground. 

 These form the genus Oncideres, belonging to a numerous group distinguished by their elongated 

 forms, strong and frequently bowed legs, and powerful claws adapted for grasping. The insect 

 selects a branch or bough suitable for its purpose, and, embracing it tightly, proceeds to gnaw 

 the bark and wood transversely, and so effective a workman is he that the ring-like notch 

 when finished is as true as if turned in a lathe. The object of this singular trait of industry 

 is in all probability to provide a supply of dead wood for the nourishment of the future progeny. 

 Branches thus neatly sawn off are frequently met with in tropical American woods, and are the 

 objects of wonder to the negroes and Creoles, who erroneously suppose them to be the work of horned 



