THE MEGASOMIN^E. 215 



shall notice it. Macraspis and Chasmodia offer us, 

 here, the greatest developement of the scutellum ob- 

 servable among the Petalocem, and the large Peruvian 

 Chrysophora Chrysochlora may vie with all in external 

 beauty. It is of a deep rich coppery green, which 

 takes a golden tinge upon the upper surface of the 

 body, agreeably deadened by the innumerable punctures 

 with which the insect is covered. Further, the very 

 remarkable Heterosternus, which, divested of its an- 

 tennae, upon a superficial glance, might pass for a 

 Buprestis, and whence it has its specific name ; and 

 the anomalous genus Hexodon the country of which 

 has only recently become known to be Madagascar 

 one metropolis of extraordinary forms. Three species 

 we are now acquainted with, and they are found in 

 tolerable plenty upon the sandy coasts of that island. 

 [W. E. Sh.] 



(187.) The Megasomince are the largest beetles of 

 this family ; and, both from their size and shape, are 

 in no danger of being confounded with either of the 

 preceding. The species, comparatively, are few, at 

 least, of such as exhibit the typical characters. They 

 are all natives of hot countries, chiefly those in the 

 New World ; and, from what little is yet known of 

 their economy, feed, in the larva state, within the 

 hollows of decayed trees., and in putrescent wood. The 

 perfect insects are clearly arboreal, for their tarsi are 

 all constructed for clinging to vegetables : the articu- 

 lations are cylindrical ; and the first joint, as in all the 

 preceding divisions, is much shorter than the last. In 

 nearly all these gigantic beetles, either the males only, 

 or both the sexes, have singular horn-shaped processes, 

 rising from the head and thorax, giving to them a very 

 grotesque and even formidable appearance. In this 

 respect, they so closely resemble the genuine Dynastidce, 

 belonging to the corresponding sub-family of the Sca- 

 rabceidce, that, to this day, all entomologists have over- 

 looked those positive distinctions manifested in the 

 different construction of their tarsi. It may be further 

 p 4 



