CHRTSOPHORA. Chryatiphora chrysochldra. 



fULYPHEMUS BEETLE. Chclorhina 



into a stout and sharp spur, not unlike that on the leg of most gallinaceous birds. The 

 object of this curious modification is not known. 



The POLYPHEMUS BEETLE is an example of the family termed Dynastidie, or powerful 

 beetles, on account of their enormous size and strength. They are the giants among 

 insects ; for although many others exceed them in length or width, these creatures are so 

 stoutly made, that any other insect becomes dwarfed when placed by their side. 



In this family, the males are remarkable for the strange and often grotesque horny 

 processes which are developed from the head and thorax, the females being destitute of 

 these ornaments. Most of the Dynastidae inhabit tropical regions, only a very few species 

 being found in Europe. They are generally night fliers, ascending to considerable eleva- 

 tions, and during the day they hide themselves in holes in the earth, in hollow trees, or 

 similar situations. Their food seems to be nearly, if not wholly, of a vegetable nature. 



PASSING by one or two families of more or less importance, we arrive at the Bupres- 

 tidse, a family of beetles remarkable for the extraordinary gorgeousness of their tints, 

 almost every imaginable hue being found upon these brilliant insects. 



They are found in many portions of the globe, but, as is generally the case with insects, 

 their colours take the greatest intensity within the tropics. They fly well, and seem to 

 exult in the hottest sunshine, where the bright beams cause their burnished raiment to 

 flash forth its most dazzling hues. They are, however, slow of foot, and, when alarmed, 

 have a habit of falling to the ground with folded limbs, as if they were dead. 



The species that is given in the illustration is one of the finest of this splendid family. 

 The sides of the thorax are covered with little round pits, something like the depressions 

 on the head of a thimble, and are of a fiery copper hue. The head and middle of the 

 thorax are light burnished blue, like that of a well-tempered watchspring, and the elytra 

 are warm cream-coloured, diversified with a patch of deep purple blue at each side, and 

 another at the tip. The CHEYSOCHKOA is a native of India. 



The larvae of this family are wood borers, and there is a curious account by 

 Mr. Marsham of an insect of this family (Buprestis splendens), which suddenly made 

 its appearance out of a desk which had remained in one of the Guildhall offices for more 



