Clerid^.- 



-INSECTS. 



-Ptinid.e. 



223 



observation would see both male and female Dnlus 

 flavesccns emerge from the shells. 



Family— TELEPHORIDjE {Soldiers and Sailors). 



In this country every boy knows the insects found 

 Eo commonly on flowers in summer-time, and called 

 " Soldiers and Sailors." Some of them have pale, 

 soft elytra, with reddish thorax and legs, while others 

 are black, but equally soft and equally agile. They 

 have long antennse, and are called by naturalists Tele- 

 phoridce. There are fifty-six British species. 



In Venezuela Mr. David Dyson discovered a curious 



insect of the family, 

 *^'S- '*'^' _ which was lately 



' described by a 

 German entomolo- 

 gist.* The male 

 (fig. 107) has very 

 short elytra, and the 

 last joints of the 

 antenuie are curi- 

 ously elongated and 

 twisted. In the 

 female the elytra 

 are longer, and tlie 

 antennae are simple. 

 These antenna are 

 used by the male for 

 holding his partner. 

 The wings are very 

 ample, and the legs 

 are long and termin- 

 ate in simple claws ; 

 the third joint of all 

 the palpi is hatchet- 

 shaped. In a pretty 

 group of green and 

 red beetles {Malthini) the third joint of the palpi is ovate, 

 and the claws are one- toothed. 



Family— CLERIDJtL 



A large and very showy family (Plate 2, fig. 1) repre- 

 sents one of them — the Tillus mutillnriiis. The 

 larvae seem to be carnivorous. Fig. 108 shows the 

 larva of Opilus domesticus. The Brazilian and A ustralian 

 species are often large, and almost always showy. So 

 are manyfrom the Eastern islands, whence come Tencrus, 

 Omadius, Stigmatium, and other curious genera. 



Fig. 109 is Latreille's beetle {Necrohia ruficollis). 



The Necrohia violacea is most extensively dis- 

 tributed. Mr. Le Contej- observes that it "appears 

 to increase in numbers the farther it is removed from 

 the haunts of men ; in the barren regions adjoining the 

 Rocky Mountains, where insects reign in almost undis- 

 puted mastery unchecked by scarce a single foe, it 



• Ldbetus toriwoHw— Kiesenwetter, Monographic der Malthi- 

 nen: Linnsea Entomologica, vii., 244, t. 1, fig. 1. The beetle 

 is testaceous ; the head, excepting the mouth, the joints of the 

 antenna? from the second to the eighth, the winga, and the legs 

 are black ■ the coxte and the bases of the femora are testaceous. 

 Its length is three lines and a half. 



+ Annals of the Lyceum of Nat. Ilist., vol. iv., p. 162. 



Lobetns torticoUia. 



may be observed covering the ground under any small 

 piece of animal matter which has been overlooked by 



Fig, los 



Fig. 109. 



Laiva of Opilus domesticus. 



Necrohia ruticul.i 



the wolves and ravens, or which has defied the power 

 of their teeth and beaks. 



Family— LYMEXYLONID^. 



There are but two British species of this family, which 

 has very curiously developed palpi. The species of 

 Atractoceriis, a long African genus, are allied to them. 



Kirby and Spence quote the Lymcxylon navnlc, a 

 British insect, as a striking exemplification of the 

 utility of entomological know- 

 ledge. In the royal dock-yards 

 of Sweden great quantities of 

 oak-timber were destroyed by 

 the ravages of an insect. The 

 king desired Linnaeus to inves- 

 tigate the matter, which the 

 great naturalist did ; and finding 

 it was this beetle which caused 

 the destruction, he suggested 

 that the oak-timber should be 

 immersed in water during the 

 time of the metamorphosis of the 

 beetle and its time for depositing 

 its eggs. Tliis suggestion was 

 adopted, and it proved a remedy 

 whicli effectualy secured the timber from its future 

 • ittacks. Fig. 110 is Lymexijlon navale. 



Family— PTINID.^. 



A family of little, generally hairy beetles, with long 

 antennae and bodies, whose larvae drill holes in furni- 

 ture, old cabinets, and all sorts of vegetable substances 

 if dry. 



The Piinus fitr (Coleoptera, Plate 3, fig. 21), and 

 other species are very common, and often do a great 

 deal of mischief in a small way. 



My friend, Mr. W. Horn, drug-grinder, of Belitha 

 Villas, Barnsbury, brought me lately many specimens 

 of ginger root from the East Indies, perforated by the 

 larvae of the small ptinidous genus Lasiodrrma. The 

 ginger is so destroyed by this small bettle {L. (esta- 

 cemn) that the importers calculate their loss annually 

 at upwards of £3000 on ginger from Cochin and Calicut 

 alone. 



There are thirty-three species of Ptinida recorded 



Lyniexylon navale. 



