This handsome beetle lives upon nut-bushes and oaks, on the 

 leaves of which it is not uncommonly found, and the coral-red 

 of the thorax and elytra, which is bright in the living insect, 

 contrasted with the green leaves, renders it very conspicuous : 

 that these beetles feed upon the leaves there is little doubt, for 

 I have frequently found numerous small holes where ihey 

 were standing, and I think I have detected them in the act of 

 eating. The tibiae are admirably adapted for clinging to any- 

 thing, being toothed on the inside, with 2 curved claws at the 

 apex, and the tarsi are spongy beneath. 



The form of this insect is rather peculiar ; it is very short 

 and convex, and when touched contracts its head and legs, 

 and bending its head and thorax close, it becomes very glo- 

 bose and drops from the leaf or plant on which it is standing. 

 It is found in May, June, and July at Coomb, Darent, and 

 Epping ; Mr. Paget takes it, but rarely, in Lound wood near 

 Yarmouth. I have frequently met with it in Norfolk, some- 

 times upon the willow, and Mr. Heysham has taken it near 

 Carlisle. 



Donovan, in his British Insects, v. 5, pi. 149, has figured 

 an insect which he calls Attclahus curculionoides ; but it is evi- 

 dently the Apoderus Avellance of Linnaeus ; and he has not only 

 given a magnified representation of the head, but he expressly 

 alludes to the slender neck of his insect, which at once distin- 

 guishes it from A. ciircidionoides \ yet Mr. Stephens has re- 

 ferred Donovan's figure to tJiis insect in both his works, and I 

 regret to see that Schonherr has done the same, as it proves 

 he has copied Stephens's error without consulting the work 

 referred to. 



As entomologists have been misled by these references, it 

 may be as well to observe that Apodenis Avellance has 12- 

 jointed antennae ; the head is obovate, being narrowed behind 

 and attached by a slender neck ; the tibiae have but one claw 

 at the apex ; it is not very glossy ; the legs as well as the tho- 

 rax and elytra are red, with black knees and tarsi. 



This insect also feeds on the hazel, and I have several times 

 found it in company with the Attelabus, but it is a much more 

 common species. 



The Plant is Milium effusum^ Soft Millet-grass, communi- 

 cated by Dr. Bromfield. 



