80 TlMEHRI. 
ornamented with waving lines and angular figures of 
red and grey. Its thorax and elytra are armed with 
spines and its under part is covered with down of a grey 
colour. It is said by Mr. Duncan in the Naturalist's 
Library and also by the Rev. J. G. WOOD in his " Insects 
Abroad" to be very fond of the juice of a yellow-wooded 
tree called the Bagassa Guianensis, but I have never 
seen any one who could tell me what this tree is. 
The Lamia subocellata already referred to belongs 
to this family. It is a fair sized beetle of a brownish 
black colour covered with a silky down. A stripe of 
yellowish white runs down the centre of its head and 
thorax, and its wing-cases are marked with round spots 
of the same colour. I have already noticed the resem- 
blance between this insect and one of the reputed sawyer 
beetles. If these beetles really cut twigs, which they 
may do to get at the sap of trees and shrubs, I think, 
they must use in doing so the acute spines on their thorax. 
The Cassidse or Tortoise Beetles are another family of 
the Tetramera. Their name is derived from the Latin 
cassis, a helmet, and is given to these beetles because 
their thorax is helmet-shaped. They are generally flat- 
tened and spherical, their outer shell overlapping the 
body, so that the legs can be drawn completely under it. 
The species are numerous and in some cases highly 
ornamental. The Cassida barbicornis is sometimes 
found here. It is a small bluish green beetle with black 
antennae. Its wing-cases are punctured and have a long 
obtuse spine projecting sidewise from each shoulder. 
The Cassida perforata also found in British Guiana is a 
somewhat singularly shaped insect. Its colour is yel- 
lowish red, dull above, but shining beneath. It has a 
