INSECTS. 49 



delicate and beantifullj^ branching forms. No brachiopods were col- 

 lected, owing, I suppose, to the want of facilities for dredging, since 

 better-known regions in the same latitude have been found to be partic- 

 ularly rich in animals of this class. None of the Molluscoida have yet 

 been identified specifically. 



INSECTS. 

 COLEOPTERA. 



Several species of curculio, and a very few specimens of a small 

 black beetle, were found at different times and in very diverse local- 

 ities. The little black beetles were caught on rocks near the sea and 

 about the roots of wet tufts of moss. They belong to the genus Oc- 

 thebius, Leach, a member of the aquatic family Heloplioridcc, McLeay, 

 and are vegetable feeders in the perfect state. The British species are 

 described as slow in tlieir movements, creeping along the stems of 

 aquatic plants, and often crawling out of the water upon the margins 

 of fresh-water pools. There was no body of fresh water near the habi- 

 tat of these Kerguelen specimens, but the herbage in which they were 

 found is constantly drenched with rain and snow water. Westwood 

 states (Guide to the Classification of Insects, London, 1839) that " this 

 family appears to be confined to temperate climates, no species having 

 been hitherto found as inhabitants of tropical countries, or, indeed, as 

 belonging to the southern hemisphere." 



A small black species of curculio was captured near the top of Mount 

 Crozier, above the snow-line, early in the summer (November). It had 

 just crawled out of a tuft of moss upon the surface of a rock. Other 

 similar specimens had been found still earlier in the season under stones 

 in gravelly soil, apparently torpid. Later, many different forms, some 

 of moderate size, were found on the sunny faces of rocks near the sea. 

 Many of these were colored green, blue, or brown, but the colors were 

 generally dull. Most of the species were incapable of flight, their wing- 

 cases being soldered together. Some of the largest forms were good 

 fliers, however, the largest and most brilliantly colored specimen taken 

 having flown into my hut one night, attracted by the light. These 

 curculios were not observed to counterfeit death when approached, as 

 is the habit of the family elsewhere. All of these various forms are 

 pronounced by Professor Gerstaecker (to whom both these and the pre- 

 ceding were sent for identification) to belong to the genus Phillobius, 

 4 K 



