DESCRIPTION OF SOME COLEOPTEROUS LARV.^. 373 



then dart off with immeasurable speed ; he who has not wit- 

 nessed these things, has yet a dehght to come : let him explore 

 the woods of Kent dm'ing the month of May, when the air is 

 calm and sunny, and he will surely be gratified. But what is 

 this at our jasmine, with bird-hke head, vv^ith brilliant eye, with 

 spread and party-coloured tail, humming loudly, and, though 

 driven off, returning again and again, day after day, from the 

 rising to the setting of the sun? it is Macroglossa: from 

 January to December we have some flower welcome to her, 

 and she is welcome, most welcome, to us and ours. De'dephila, 

 thy wing is scarcely less alert, and around our honeysuckle we 

 often hear thy happy, thy contented hum, and with our lanthorn 

 light thee to thy feast ; but thy wing is not all unwearying, and 

 fain wouldst thou rest awhile on each cup thou drinkest from, 

 and if disturbed flit circling round our head as loth to leave. 

 Next comes the heavy Sphinx; his body droops, his tube, 

 longest of all, rifles e'en the Bignonids bloom ; his wing is 

 strong, swift and direct his flight, he wastes it not in airy show. 

 O'er widest pastures, o'er the desert plain, o'er ocean's waters, 

 the giant Acherontia roams ; turning ever and anon his broad 

 side to the blast, he wings his swift course onwards. Lastly, 

 comes thy soft and feeble flight, SmerintJms, silent and owl-like 

 as the wafted flake or feather at the midnight hour, when all 

 beside is still. 



Art. XXXV. — Descrijition of some Coleopterous Larvtv. 

 By G. R. Waterhouse. 



Larva of Megatoma serra. Fab. Plate X. Fig. 3. 



Head corneous : body subcoriaceous, of a dull brown 

 colour, variegated with markings of a deeper hue, and covered 

 with long brown hairs ; four of the abdominal segments have 

 a second series of hairs, which are shorter, and very thickly 

 set. The telum is also furnished with a long brush of hairs. 

 (Length, 1| lin.) 



Head subrotundate : antennae three-jointed ; basal joint short and 

 stout ; second elongate, narrowed anteriorly and posteriorly ; 

 terminal, elonmte and slender. The bead is furaished with six 



