VARIETY OF COLOUR AND SIZE. 21 



who is fortunate enougb to capture it, is sure to publish the 

 lact. It is probably one of the intermittent and local species, 

 as it has been taken in some numbers near the Devil's Dyke, 

 at Brighton. The length of the Beetle is about a quarter of 

 an inch. 



Another species of this genus is drawn on Woodcut II. 

 Fig. 2. This is called Lebia cyanocephala. The latter of 

 these two words signifies blue-headed, and is given to the 

 insect because its head, instead of being black, like that of the 

 preceding species, is bluish-green. The thorax is rust-red, and 

 is much punctated, and has a definite though slight groove 

 along its centre. The colour of the elytra is somewhat variable, 

 but is generally greenish-blue, in some specimens being almost 

 entirely green, and in others almost entirely blue. It is bluish- 

 green beneath. 



The size of the insect is as variable as its coloiir, some 

 specimens being quite a third larger than others. Its average 

 length is a quarter of an inch, or rather less. It is not a 

 common Beetle, but may be found upon the broom in the 

 summer time. 



There is a common species of this beautiful genus also to 

 be procured from the broom. This is Lebia chlorocephala. 

 It much resembles the preceding insect in colour, but may be 

 known by the greater depth of the punctures on the head, and 

 the longer and narrower thorax, with the posterior angles more 

 pointed. Like the preceding insect, it is exceedingly variable 

 both in colour and size. Mr. Stephens states that the specimens 

 which he took from the broom in Epping Forest were scarcely 

 half as large as those taken on the same tree in Darenth Wood, 

 and that in the Epping Beetles the prevailing colour was blue, 

 while in the Darenth specimens it was green. 



The genus Dromius comes next on our list. There are nine 

 species of Dromius, all of them small and rather pretty insects. 

 Although they are almost invariably found under the bark of 

 trees, they must not be confounded with those little Beetles 

 which devour the bark or bore into the wood. On the con- 

 trary, such insects constitute the food of the Dromii, so that 



