Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 297 



Longicorn beetles, and Melolontha and Euchlora, well-known genera 

 pertaining to the Lamellicorns. With regard to vegetation, there 

 will also be found an equal magnitude of stature and a luxuriance 

 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 import- 

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

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

 cant it may be, but 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 occupying 

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

 gards insects) comparatively little studied or understood, I proceed 

 to remark on the geographical distribution of the family Euchloridce. 

 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 ArticuMes" (at page 135), 

 we find under the generic name Euchlora, not only Mimela and Aprostema 

 included, but also Anomala, &c. It is singular that the same appel- 

 lation is given to twenty-two species therein specified, a short analysis 

 of which I now place before you, and shall then allude more par- 



