236 Hispid^. INSECTS. Chbysomelid.41. 
rated it was with golden hues, which before death became 
bronzy. Some of tbe Hong Kong species are most 
beautifully marked, and so are the Ceylonese, as the 
rare Coptocycla Balyi. 
Coptocycla is a very extensive and beautiful genus, 
generally small and mostly from the New World. They 
retain their hues in alcohol. 
The larvae of the Tortoise beetles shelter themselves 
under an umbrella of their own excrement, and this 
covering they can elevate or depress in such a way as 
to shade or shelter them more or less effectually. 
They effect this by means of a forked instrument, which 
Kirby has called a fcecifurk. On this they place the 
excrementitious matter. It is sometimes turned up 
and lies flat on the back ; sometimes it forms an acute, 
sometimes a blunt angle, wkh the body; at others, is un- 
bent and in the same direction with it. Figs. 136, 137, 
show the larva and pupa of a Cassida, copied from the 
Fig. 137. 
Stettin Entomological Society’s journal. The excre- 
mentitious matter is sometimes formed into very long 
branching filaments, as in the Calopepla Leayana, a 
species of the family found in India, in which this ster- 
eoraceous parasol, as observed by the late General 
Hardwicke, much resembles a dried sea- weed or lichen. 
Family— HISPIDHD. 
Tlie larvae of these are, in some respects, related to 
the wood-feeding larvae of the Longicorn beetles, whilst 
in habits they resemble those of the leaf-mining cater- 
pillars of certain moths. The late Professor T. W. 
Harris of the United States first recorded this. Want 
of space forbids me entering any further on the group. 
The cut (fig. 138) represents the larva of Hispa 
testacea, discovered by Mr. Perris abundantly on the 
Cistus salvifolius, a plant growing on tbe sandy heaps 
Fig. 138. 
of the Landes of France. He found that the larva 
lives on the parenchyma of the leaves, without attacking 
the epidermis. 
Family— GALEEUCID^. 
This is a most extensive family of insects; many 
of them are beautifully coloured, and have remarkable 
antennae. 
Fred. Val. Melsheimer, minister of Hanover, York 
county, who published a catalogue of the insects of 
Pennsylvania in 1806, states that the Cucumber fly is 
“ the pest of gardens,” and is destroyed or driven off 
by tar and sulpbur. 
Our turnips are subject to the attacks of several 
insects; few are so destructive to these crops as the 
little jumping beetles {Haltica Nemorum), called by 
farmers “ the fly” and “ black jack.” Kirby and 
Spence record that in one year in Devonshire these 
insects did damage to the turnip crops, which was 
estimated at £100,000. 
Family— CHRYSOMELIDiE. 
A very extensive family of generally brilliant green, 
blue, or bronzed beetles. I remember a fine species, 
very common on plants at the foot of Salisbury Craigs, 
striking the attention of a youthful collector of insects 
in 1833. 
The larvae are six-legged, with also an anal leg. 
On heaths and commons you may often meet with a 
small convex black beetle “ crawling solemnly about,” 
This beetle ( Timarcha cm'iaria) is about the third of 
an inch in length, and in its larva state is exclusively 
a vegetable feeder. There is another species found in 
this country which is of larger size, and being smoother 
than the other, is named Timarcha Icevigata. Both 
species, if you take them up, in self-defence exude a 
red-coloured liquid from their mouth, whence they 
have obtained the vulgar, but very characteristic name, 
of “ bloody-nosed beetles.” 
On Plate 4, fig. 6, is figured the Australica Curtisd, 
