66 



of foliage quite in proportion to what occurs even in the animal 

 world. If we look to the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Ame- 

 rica, we shall find a similarity of character generally predominating : 

 but it is in the tropical jungle chiefly, and on the banks and estuaries 

 of mighty rivers, that insects will be found, not only formidable by 

 their size, but remarkably numerous in species and individuals. The 

 genus Euchlora of Mr. MacLeay, to which at present I wish to 

 draw your attention, is not very distinguished for its size, although 

 larger than all the allied genera belonging to the family. The pre- 

 dominating colour is green, and the abundance of individuals be- 

 longing to some of the species is incalculable. I may mention, en 

 passant, that the thousands which have annually been imported 

 into Europe, appear from inquiry not in the least to have thinned 

 their numbers. On one occasion I received forty Chinese boxes, 

 and in each of them (I speak greatly within bounds) there were at 

 least twenty specimens of Euchlora viridis. These boxes are im- 

 ported into England, and other parts of Europe, in great quantities, 

 and there is scarcely a museum at home or abroad, however insig- 

 nificant it may be, but what it exhibits its Atlas Moths, its purple- 

 coloured Sagra, and less attractive Euchlora, in tolerable profusion. 

 I have stated above that the prevailing colour of the species is green, 

 but there are some exceptions. The under side of some of them is 

 usually a bronze, or a rose-coloured copper ; some of them green 

 above and beneath ; others green above and yellow beneath ; while 

 some again are blue on the same side, with the play of light appearing 

 of a violet colour. With regard to the colour of insects, greens, as far 

 as my observations go, naturally on one side merge into blues and 

 violets, and on the other into orange and yellows. Instead of occu- 

 pying the time of the meeting with a question at present (as far as 

 regards insects) comparatively little studied or understood, I pro- 

 ceed to remark on the geographical distribution of the family Eu- 

 chloridce. Had some of the Continental entomologists been better 

 acquainted with Mr. MacLeay's Horse Entomologicse, they certainly 

 never would have considered Euchlora as an European genus. In a 

 late work, published in Paris, the " Histoire Naturelle des Animaux 

 Articulees" (at page 135), we find under the generic name Euchlora, 

 not only Mimela and Aprosterna included, but also Anomala, &c. 

 It is singular that the same appellation is given to twenty-two spe- 

 cies therein specified, a short analysis of which I now place before 

 you, and shall then allude more particularly to the genera composing 

 the family, the range over which it extends, and mention the coun- 

 tries and localities in which they severally occur. 



" Of the above twenty-two species, five of them appear to be true 

 Euchlora, two others belong to Mimela, Kirby, another to Rhom- 

 bonyx, Kirby, and the remaining fourteen to Anomala of Megerle, as 

 it now stands. Before I conclude these remarks on the species of 

 the genus before us, it is necessary to state that I have elevated 

 Euchlora to the rank of a family, the following genera properly be- 

 longing to it. 



