i54 



INSECTS. 



insects, others like Rhagium are found on the trunks of pine-trees. In the 

 Molorchides the elytra are usually short or very narrow, and the abdomen slender 



and constricted at the 

 base, so that many of 

 the species have a re- 

 semblance to Hymen- 

 optera. The European 

 Necydalis major looks 

 like a hornet, but in 

 many of the tropical 

 forms these resem- 

 blances are more pro- 

 nounced. The Clytides 

 are found on flowers, 

 chiefly of the umbell- 

 iferous kind, and two or 

 three species are among 

 the prettiest of British beetles. 



Some of the 

 Clytides and species of Hylotrupes and Callidium 

 are occasionally met with in houses, being intro- 

 duced in the wood in which the larvae feed. The 

 Lamiince are more numerous than the other 

 Longicorns, and distinguished by having an 

 oblique groove on the lower side of the front 

 tibiae, the last joint of the palpi usually pointed 

 at the end, and the front of the head in most 

 cases turned down vertically, or sometimes even inclined backwards, bringing the 

 mouth close to the prosternum. The species of the genus Lamia are few in 

 number and by no means typical of the subfamily ; they are clumsy-looking, dull 

 black insects, one of which (Lamia 



Strangalia armata and larva 

 (nat. size). 



1, musk-beetle : 2, Spondylis buprestoidcs 

 (nat. size). 



textor) is found on willow-trees and in 



osier-beds in some parts of Britain. In 



the genus Acanthocinus the antennas 



attain their greatest length, being four 



times as long as the body in the male. 



A. osdilis is found in pine -woods in 



Scotland, and is met with occasionally 



in other parts of Great Britain and 



even in London, where it is sometimes 



introduced in timber. Amongst the 



exotic species of this subfamily, the 



harlequin - beetle (Acrocinus longi- 



manus) is one of the most remarkable, 



being distinguished, not only by its curiously variegated colours, but also by the 



extraordinary length of the front legs in the male. 



The Bruchida? are a small but widely spread family of little beetles which are 



Toxotus meridianus, male and female (nat. size). 



