The outline of the European species of Lycus is sublinear ; 

 whilst that of tropical climates is dilated towards the apex of 

 the elytra, and is sometimes nearly orbicular, occasioning the 

 greatest disproportion between the trunk, and the elytra and 

 wings ; they differ also in colour, the former being black and 

 red, the latter of different shades of orange, blue and black. 



I cannot refrain from noticing the great similitude there is 

 in form and colour between some of the Brazilian Ceramby- 

 cidae and Lycus ; but whether there exists any absolute affi- 

 nity I am not prepared to prove. It may, however, be stated 

 that although several species of our genus are found in flowers, 

 especially of umbellate plants, they also inhabit the decaying 

 trunks of trees ; and in the structure of the antennae they ap- 

 proach the Prionidae. 



Of this beautiful genus 2 species have been detected in 

 Britain. 



1. L. minutus Oliv. — Curtis Brit. Ent. pi. 263. 



This insect is said to inhabit Oaks and Hedges, from June 

 to September. I have seen one taken by Mr. Brightwell, the 

 middle of Sept. 1810, in a grove about 3 miles from Linton 

 in Cambridgeshire; it was found entangled and dead in a 

 spider's web : the specimen figured, I took on a Mountain 

 Ash in August, in the neighbourhood of Tonbridge Wells. 



2. L. festivus Dori. Brit. Ins. v. 16. pi. 544. 



Antennas pectinated, black. Thorax and elytra tawny-orange, 

 excepting the disk of the former, and the apex of the latter. 



Mr. Donovan obtained a specimen from the late Mr. Drury's 

 Cabinet. 



The plant is JLuphrasia officinalis (Common Eye-bright). 



