GENERA OF BIONILICORNES. 313 



more brilliant in their colours when alive than dead, 

 which then fade ; although they may be renovated for a 

 short time by immersion in boiling water. Some have 

 the disk of the elytra elongated perpendicularly into a 

 tall spine, presenting a convenient hold for removing 

 them from plants ; others have it elevated pyramidically : 

 they present a good deal of difference in the outline 

 of their form ; some being quadrate, but the most regular 

 and usual figure is a perfect oval. Their larvae possess 

 the singular habit of covering themselves with their ex- 

 crement, which is held suspended over the body by 

 means of a furcated process originating_ from the apex of 

 the abdomen ; and this crust they have the power of 

 raising or depressing to suit their convenience. They 

 feed upon the leaves of plants, upon the surface of 

 which they take their transformations. The CoccineL 

 lidcB, which we have above associated with them, have, 

 as we have there also shown, totally different habits, — 

 being carnivorous. The perfect insects are very convex, 

 frequently completely hemispherical : their tarsi have but 

 three distinct joints ; and their antennae are short and 

 gradually clavated, — the articulations of the club being 

 transverse. They are very numerous, and occur in all 

 countries^ and are sometimes so prolific in individuals, 

 that upon our coasts we have, in some years, seen the 

 cliffs and shores densely covered with them. Such appa- 

 ritions are welcome to hop growers, who may then expect 

 redundant harvests, as the Coccinella, or ladybird, feeds vo- 

 raciously upon his chief enemy, the Aphis. Chilocorusand 

 Scymnus, in the same sub-family, have the same habits. 

 In this group we must also associate the Endomychi, the 

 majority of which feed upon funguses. These insects 

 are ovate, convex, with the thorax usually much nar- 

 rower than the abdomen, and either quadrate or trape- 

 ziform. Our solitary British species of the genus is of 

 bright pale vermilion, studded with black spots; and 

 occurs, sometimes, beneath the bark of trees, in consider- 

 able profusion. The exotic Eumorphus has the sides 

 of the elytra, in some species, dilated like Cassida, and 



