II COLEOPTERA 35 



probably male and female, were chasing each other in an irregular 

 course, they passed within a few yards of me ; and I distinctly 

 heard a clicking noise, similar to that produced by a toothed 

 wheel passing under a spring catch. The noise was continued 

 at short intervals, and could be distinguished at about 

 twenty yards' distance : I am certain there is no error in the 

 observation. 



I was disappointed in the general aspect of the Coleoptera. 

 The number of minute and obscurely-coloured beetles is exceed- 

 ingly great.-^ The cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast only of 

 the larger species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to 

 disturb the composure of an entomologist's mind, to look for- 

 ward to the future dimensions of a complete catalogue. The 

 carnivorous beetles, or Carabidae, appear in extremely few 

 numbers within the tropics : this is the more remarkable when 

 compared to the case of the carnivorous quadrupeds, which are 

 so abundant in hot countries. I was struck with this observa- 

 tion both on entering Brazil, and when I saw the many elegant 

 and active forms of the Harpalidae reappearing on the temper- 

 ate plains of La Plata. Do the very numerous spiders and 

 rapacious Hymenoptera supply the place of the carnivorous 

 beetles ? The carrion - feeders and Brachely4;ra are very un- 

 common ; on the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chryso- 

 melidae, all of which depend on the vegetable world for sub- 

 sistence, are present in astonishing numbers. I do not here 

 refer to the number of different species, but to that of the 

 individual insects ; for on this it is that the most striking char- 

 acter in the entomology of different countries depends. The 

 orders Orthoptera and Hemiptera are particularly numerous ; as 

 likewise is the stinging division of the Hymenoptera ; the bees, 

 perhaps, being excepted. A person, on first entering a tropical 



means of its making its noise. He says, "It is remarkable for having a sort of drum 

 at the base of the fore wings, between the costal nervure and the subcostal. These 

 two nervures, moreover, have a peculiar screw-like diaphragm or vessel in the interior." 

 I find in Langsdorffs travels (in the years 1803-7, p. 74) it is said, that in the island 

 of St. Catherine's on the coast of Brazil, a butterfly called Februa Hoffmanseggi 

 makes a noise, when flying away, like a rattle. 



^ I may mention, as a common instance of one day's Qune 23rd ) collecting, when 

 I was not attending particularly to the Coleoptera, that I caught sixty-eight species 

 of that order. Among these, there were only two of the Carabidse, four Brachelytra, 

 fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen of the Chrysomelidx. Thirty-seven species of 

 Arachnidoe, which I brought home, will be sufficient to prove that I was not paying 

 overmuch attention to the generally favoured order of Coleoptera. 



