COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 257 
which they practise in common with several allied 
kinds, that of covering their bodies, when lame, 
with their own excrements. In order to enable 
them to do this with facility, they are provided with 
a forked process issuing from the anal extremity, 
which can be turned upwards, and laid along the 
back. Upon this they deposit their excrement, 
and support the load in such a manner as to cover 
the body. This singular covering is probably de- 
signed to shelter the tender body of the larva from 
the air and sun, and at the same time to conceal it 
from birds. The outer shell of the perfect beetle 
considerably overlaps the body, and the legs can 
be drawn completely within it. The species are 
very numerous, and many of them highly ornamen- 
tal, as will be seen from the adjoining figures. 
CASSIDA BICORN IS. 
PLATE XXVIII. Fig. 1. 
Fair. Ent. Syst.— -Olivier, vi. No. 97, pi. 4, fig. 59. 
The colour of this insect is bluish green, except 
the antennas, which are black with the radical joints 
bronzed. The thorax has two or three small im- 
pressions ; and the elytra, which are punctured, have 
a long obtuse spine projecting sidewise from each 
shoulder. It occurs in Cayenne, Surinam, and 
other parts of America- 
R 
