29 NATURAL ARRANGE3IENT OF INSECTS'* 



no transverse fold, but lie upon the long, somewhat 

 pedunculated, body, at their full length. The true 

 Necydali and the Sphecidce frequent the same situations ; 

 both are fond of basking in the sun, and feeding upon 

 the nectar of umbelliferous flowers ; and they may 

 often be captured from the very same plant. Their 

 active gait shows that their structure, like that of all 

 the floral Lamellicornes, is adapted for running. We 

 consequently find the hinder legs remarkably long, 

 while the basal tarsal joint is double the length of the 

 two next. The most remarkable developement of this 

 singular form of beetle, is seen in the Necydalis major 

 Linn., the European type of the genus, at once dis- 

 tinguished by its very short and abruptly truncated 

 elytra. Other sub-genera occur in Tropical America ; 

 one having the thorax globose, the hinder legs hairy, 

 and the elytra more lengthened and pointed: the other 

 has the thorax cylindrical (Odontocera), more like the 

 European type, but the tapering elytra are nearly as 

 long as the body : in both these American types, the 

 thighs are considerably and suddenly swollen. We pass 

 on to the next or sub-typical genus, Vespisoma (^Ves- 

 per us of the French catalogues), where we have the 

 general form of a Necydalis, but with the body shorter, 

 and almost entirely covered by two very narrow elytra, 

 so narrow, indeed, that the whole body does not exceed 

 the breadth of the thorax. Nature seems to have a pecu- 

 liar pleasure in representing her forms under appropriate 

 disguises ; for here ( Clytus} we have beetles clothed in 

 the very colours of bees and wasps, that is, banded 

 and spotted with bright yellow upon a dark ground : 

 the head is short, broad, and abrupt ; and is so much 

 encased in the large globose thorax, as to appear con- 

 founded with it. These, like the Necydali, are fre- 

 quently found upon umbelliferous flowers ; and, under 

 several sub-generic forms, are common both to temperate 

 and tropical countries. The three aberrant genera ap- 

 pear to be represented by Distichocera Kirby , Euryptera, 

 and Cleonia. In regard to the Australian 



