426 
Observations on the various Insects 
Nees ab Esenbeck Hormius rubiginosus.* It is also serviceable 
in destroying wood-boring beetles which infest our houses. 
11. C. rubiginosus. iJ/a/e shining, dull chesnut colour; head large, 
black, subglobose, finely punctured ; eyes not large, lateral, but placed 
rather forward ; ocelli 3, forming a triangle on the crown : antennae as 
long as the thorax, ochreous, slender, and 11-jointed in the male ; 2 
basal joints stout, 3rd and following oblong-ovate : thorax as broad as 
the head, elongate-obovate ; metathorax rugose, the hinder angles tuber- 
culated : abdomen not longer than the thorax, small, oval, depressed, 
more ochreous, fuscous at the apex, which is very smooth and shining, 
with 2 distinct segments, 2 carinae or longitudinal ridges at the base: 
the 4 wings are of moderate size, tinted with ochreous-brown ; the ner- 
vures are very indistinct, the stigma tawny ; the legs are stoutish and 
pale ochreous ; the feet taper, and are 5-jointed, terminated by minute 
lobes. It is scarcely J a line long, and the wings expand about j of a 
line. The. female is four times as large, being 1 line long, and 2 lines 
in expanse : the head is moderately large, thickly punctured, and does 
not shine: the antennae are 12-jointed : the thorax is broader than the 
head, sometimes black or partially of that colour in front ; the meta- 
thorax has 2 ridges behind : the abdomen is very thickly punctured, 
especially on the disc and at the base ; the carinae are very sharp, and 
the second segment very large ; ovipositor shorter than the abdomen : 
superior wings with a large elliptical fulvous stigma, nervures ochreous, 
■with a very large marginal cell, 3 submarginal, and a discoidai one. 
Useful as these checks are, it is not in our power to command 
their services : their destiny is to prevent the total destruction of 
the crops of peas and beans from the ravages of the Bruchi, and it 
is left for the ingenuity of man to devise means of preservation, 
which, when well directed and persevered in, will generally reward 
his labour. It has been already stated that in Kent these insects 
are most abundant ; from this fact it may be inferred that chalky- 
districts suit the economy of the Bruchi in some way, either by 
favouring their transformations, or in producing wild flowers that 
are attractive to the beetles, j It would be worth while ascertain- 
ing what is the period for sowing peas and beans in the infested 
districts, as by some opposite course it is possible the increase of 
the beetles might be checked. Late sowing I apprehend would 
be the most dangerous, as the insects would then be committed 
to the earth with the seed, when they would not suffer from too 
low a temperature, but would come forth strong, active, ready to 
pair, and pursue their economy unrestrained. In May and June, 
as the summer approaches, the beetles have generally batched or 
died in the seeds, and consequently they are free from this objec- 
* Hyni. Ich. affinia, vol. i. p. 1")G. 
•I- Bnirhus Cisti, another British species, is exceedmgly attached to 
chalky districts, from the Cixtus Helianthanum abomidini^ on such soils, in 
the flowers of which it lives. 
