INSECTS : WINGS AND THEIE APPENDAGES. 



83 



would appear cut into saw-like teeth. Along the margins 

 of these ridges are set minute sockets, which are very dis- 

 tinctly seen, where the scales have been displaced ; in 

 these the tiny foot-stalks of the scales are inserted. 



The little Beetles with which we are familiar under the 

 name of Weevils, characterised by their long slender 

 snouts, at the end of which they carry curiously folding 

 antennae, and which constitute the family Curculionida, 

 are in many cases clothed with scales, to which they owe 

 their colours and patterns. Several of our native species 

 display a green or silvery lustre, which under the micro- 

 scope is seen to be produced by oval scales. But these 

 are eclipsed by the splendour of many tropical species ; 

 especially that well-known one from South America, which 

 is called the Diamond Beetle, and scientifically Entimus 

 imperialis, from its unparalleled magnificence. 



A piece of one of the wing-cases of this beetle is gum- 

 med to the slide now upon the stage. We look at it by 

 reflected light with a magnifying power of 130 diameters. 

 We see a black ground, on which are strewn a profusion of 

 what look like precious stones blazing in the most gorgeous 

 lustre. Topazes, 

 sapphires, ame- 

 thysts ,rubies, eme- 

 ralds, seem sown 

 broadcast; and yet 

 not wholly without 

 regularity , for there 

 are broad bands of 

 the deep black sur- 

 face, where there 

 are no gems, and, 

 though at consider- 

 able diversity of 

 angle, they do all point with more or less precision in one 

 direction, viz., that of the bands. 



g 2 



BCALE8 OF DIAMOND-BEETLE, 



