Endomychid^.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-COCCINEI.LID^. 



237 



one of a pretty numerous genus of Australian Clir_yso- 

 melidtC. The Eumolpi are often very gloriously 

 coloured ; the name Eumolpus is well applied to these 

 hriglitly-burnished insects. Here come the various 

 Colaspidce and many other groups. 



In Australia we have the extensive genus or group 

 called Paropsis — yellow, dirty brownish-yellow, black, 

 and rarely green, being ordinary colours. 



Section— PSEUDO -T RIMER A. 



Professor Westwood has wisely substituted this term 

 for Latreille's name Trimera. In most of the insects 

 of this great primary section of the Beetles, the 

 tarsi are apparently composed of only three joints, 

 the second of which, however, is bilobed, and receives 

 between its lobes the minute third joint, and the base 

 of the fourth or terminal joint. It has been seen that 

 some insects really Pentamerous in their affinities are 

 Hderomerous, and some Pseuclo-tetramerous longi- 

 corns, &c., are Pentamerous. So that Jice is actually 

 the normal number of joints. 



Family— EROTYLID.a;. 



A very well marked family of Beetles, chiefly exotic. 

 The tarsi are pseudo-tetramerous. The South Ameri- 

 can species are particularly showy and handsome. 

 They form the subject of a fine monograph by Lacor- 

 daire ; but since his time many new species have been 

 met with by my friend, H. W. Bates. Yellow spots 

 and bands, or red spots and bands on a black ground, 

 are the prevailing colours. The antennae have a three- 

 jointed club. The vaiious species of Languria be- 

 longing to this group are fungivorous ; that is to say, 

 the larviE live on fungi, on trees or on the ground, 

 but especially those with small pores of the Boletus 

 kind. Engidt'e and Erotylidae seem to pass into each 

 other, or surely it may be said that they are one and 

 the same. I cannot help pointing out a very curious 

 Langurioid genus with large fiat tarsi from India, which 

 I described some years ago, naming it after my friend 

 and coadjutor, the late accomplished Edward Double- 

 da)'. It is the Douhledayia viator. I intended to 

 allude, in the specific name, long legs, and curious feet, 

 to the love of travel of my late friend. 



Family— ENDOMYCHIDiE. 



The largest of these, forming the genus Eumorphus 

 and allies, are found in Java, Malacca, Borneo, and 

 other parts of tropical Asia and its islands. In South 

 America are found several genera, such as Corijno- 

 malus and Stenotarsus. The larvse of a species of the 

 latter genus, are sometimes found feeding in company 

 with the perfect insects on the minute fungous, or 

 prrhaps lichenous substance, on the surfiee of old, 

 damp, dead wood — broken branches of forest trees, 

 old barked stumps, or pailings around plantations. 

 Miiiiy of the smaller species, specially of the genera 

 Epopterus, Anidrylas, Phalantha, Slc, are found only 



on slender dead twigs, which are generally spotted 

 with minute fungi. 



The genus Lycoperdina found in the puff-ball (see 

 fig. 139), and the pretty scarlet and black-spotted 

 EndomychxLi coccineus, are British species of this 

 family. 



Fig. 139. 



Lycoperdina BoTiste. 



Eumorphus and its allies are all Eastern. The 

 species are noble-like insects, monographed by Gers- 

 taker, an able German entomologist. Their elytra 

 have a broad dilated margin, and some species are 

 armed with large spines and hooks. 



Family— COCCINELLIDiE {T/w Ladylirds). 



This family is a very extensive one, though the 

 insects composing it are seldom larger, while most of 

 them are smaller, than our own little common Lady- 

 bird Coccinella lipunctuta. The eggs of Lady-birds 

 are smooth, oval, and of a yellow colour. They are 

 usually gummed by one end to the under side of leaves, 

 and are placed in clusters. When hatched the larva 

 is generally black and slender-bodied, tapering behind, 

 and with six legs in front. As soon as this little 

 crocodile-like larva comes to an aphis, he seizes it, 

 and leisurely devours it, leaving only the empty skin. 

 From this habit the family has been named ApiilDi- 

 PIIAOI, that is to say. Aphis-eaters. As he grows, he 

 becomes spotted with red or yellow tubercles. After 

 having attained his full dimensions, which is not before 

 he has eaten hundreds of aphides, he fixes himself by 

 the tail to a leaf or a post ; and, hanging with his head 

 downwards, the skin cracks down the middle of the 

 back, and the smooth pupa may be seen partly pro- 

 truding out of the prickly skin of the larva, which still 

 continues in some species to cover the pupa on each 

 side and beneath. Exposed as the pupa is, upon the 

 surface of a leaf or of the bark, it is probably the 

 design of Nature in providing it with this prickly skin, 

 to save it from being discovered and destroyed by 

 birds. 



In about a fortnight the hard outer skin cracks, and 

 out crawls the Lady-bird, so familiar to every child. 

 The French children call the Lady-birds " betes a bon 

 Dieu" — a pretty idea, and jileasingly inviting protection 

 to the little useful insect so named. 



We know from Freeman's " Life of the Rev. William 

 Kirby," that Mr. Kirby was first particularly attracted 

 to the study of insects by a Lady-bird. In the " Intro- 



