224 



Hetekojieiia.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-BoSTRlCHIDyE. 



as British. Tliey belong to the genera Plilinus, Xylc- 

 titnts, Lasioderma, Dorcatoma, Anohium, Dryophihis, 

 Ochina, Iledobia, Ptinus, Nij)tus — one species {Niptus 



I'timis fur — Male. 



hololeucus), covered with close, golden-yellow pile, has 

 extended over this country in my time — Gibbium, and 

 ScoLiat, 



With a notice of one species I may pass on to anotlicr 

 family [Anohium pertinux). This little timber-boring 

 beetle can, when alarmed, withdraw a considerable 

 part of its head witliin the thorax, when it somewhat 

 resembles a monk with its hood. It has been long 

 famed for its pertinacious simulation of death, and 

 indeed has derived its specific name (pcrtinax) from 

 this very pertinacity. Fig. Ill shows the male of 

 Ptinus fur. 



Family— BOSTRICHIDiE. 



The Bostrichidm is a family of wood-boring insects, 

 some of them large, cylindrical, and rough, especially 

 Cape species. In this country we have but f(jur spe- 

 cies. Under Scolytidas the habits of this family are 

 described. On Plate 3, fig. 19, the Apate capucina, a 

 doubtful British insect, is figured. 



With a notice merely of the Lyclidce and small 

 Cissidce, often with very pretty antennpe, I must pass 

 on to another group ; and yet, in the economy of nature, 

 in destroying fungi and feeding other insects or birds, 

 like wrens or creepers, the larvse of these little beetles 

 are no doubt extremely useful. 



HETEROMERA. 



In the Heteramcra, the first two pairs of legs liave 

 each five joints to each tarsus, but only four to each of 

 the other legs. 



It is a very heterogeneous mass — there being in it, no 

 doubt, many insects belonging to other gi'oups, just as 

 there are heteromerous genera and species in penta- 

 merous and tetramerous sections. 



In most of the Heteroraera the anfennse are monili- 

 form. In this place I do not attempt to describe the 

 families in their order, and space is wanting to treat 

 even of their names. On Plate 3 a few of the Hetero- 

 mera are figured, mentioned further 

 on, excepting the curious Helwtis 

 perforaUis (Plate 3, fig. 11), one 

 of a singular group of insects, all 

 indigenous to Australia. The 

 Ilelcnus echidna (fig. 112), brought 

 from King George's Sound by 

 Captain (now Governor Sir) George 

 Gra}', has the elytra armed with 

 short spines; others, as the species 

 figured, have hairs projecting from the wing cases. 



We may begin with the great group Vesicantia, of 

 which our Meloe or Oil Beetle is a characteristic 

 example. See its curious history and strange meta- 

 morphoses recorded by Newport in the Linna?an Trans- 

 actions. But space forbids our making extracts from 

 his pages. 



There is no member of the order more famed than 

 the "Blister-beetle" or "Spanish-fly" (Cantharis or 

 Lytta Vesicatoria), and there is probably none that has 

 been more useful to mankind. In the druggists' shops 

 you may see a large drawer or glass jar filled with 



rieliens echidna. 



Cdnthartdes. It is a bright green beetle, glossed over 

 with reddish bronze or blue ; its elytra are long and 

 softish, and conceal two large wings ; the antennae 

 are longish and thread-shaped. The beetle is some- 

 times though rarely taken in this country ; and some 

 twenty years ago I saw many specimens captured on 

 ash trees near Chelmsford or Colchester in Essex. On 

 the continent of Europe it is a common insect, being 

 abundant in the southern parts of France, Spain, Italy, 

 Germany, and Russia. In France the collectors of 

 Blister-beetles go out during the mornings and even- 

 ings of the month of May, when they are less acti\e 

 than they are in the hot sunshine, and get them by 

 spreading a cloth under a tree frequented by them, and 

 shaking the tree or beating it with long poles. When 

 so employed tho.y usually cover their face.s, and protect 

 their hands by wearing gloves. The Cantharides are 

 most frequently deprived of life by immersing the cloths 

 in which they are gathered in hot vinegar and water, and 

 then drying them on hurdles covered over to keep them 

 clean. They are imported into this country from Sicily 

 and Bussia, the greatest part being sent in barrels or 

 cases from Astracan and St. Petersburg ; the Russian 

 cases contain from sixty to seventy pounds. The insecis 

 are collected in large numbers in Hungary, and imported 

 into this countrj' by way of Hamburg. Dr. Pereira 

 states that, in 1839, 10,376 lbs. of Blister-beetles were 

 imported into this country, on which a duty of one 

 shilling a pound was paid 



The principle in the beetles which causes its vesica- 

 tory powers, exists more or less in all the numerous 

 species of the family. 



I must here leave the Heteromera, containing the 



