INSECT SCULPTURE. 255 



not uncommon upon water-plants, the surface, besides being 

 punctured, is covered with an exquisite species of fretwork 

 which heightens their metallic brilliancy. Even those of the 

 Coleoptera which appear to the unaided eye smooth and glossy, 

 such as the stag-beetle, the lady-bird, and some of the bur- 

 nished Chrysomelidce, or "Apples of gold," exhibit beneath 

 the magnifier minute punctures ; and as these punctures, when 

 perforated through the substance of the wing-case, serve, it is 

 supposed, for admission of air to the breathing-tubes beneath, 

 we may perhaps conclude them therefore to be never wholly 

 absent. 



Sculptured ornament is a decoration less frequent on in- 

 sects of other orders, but where present, it would seem, 

 bestowed usually as a touch of finish on those most distin- 

 guished by exceeding beauty. That glowing gem of British 

 Hymenoptera, the golden wasp, or ruby -tailed fly,* is thickly 

 beset, body and thorax, with excavated dots ; so also, as seen 

 when magnified, some of the exquisitely beautiful parasitic 

 gall-flies ; and a sprinkle of these same dottings often com- 

 pletes the elegant parure of those variously formed and many- 

 coloured insects, the Pcntatomidce, or plant-bugs. 



When from insect sculpture we turn to insect painting, we 

 find ourselves in a perfect embarras de richesses, and are 

 fairly puzzled how, fairly, to select for special notice, amongst 

 the miniature chefs d'ceuvres of every summer exhibition. 



* Chrysis ignita. See Vignette. 



