EAST LONDON 
243 
frequenting kinds that this extraordinary development of the hind¬ 
legs with their curiously serrate, dentate and mucronate tibiae is 
met with, because the species of Hoplocnemis , in which the develop¬ 
ment has become almost a monstrosity, do not feed on flowers, or 
at least have not been observed doing so. The habits seem to be 
more those of certain Dynastinae, and I suspect them to live, while 
in the larval state, in the excrement deposits of the subterranean 
white ant, Hodotermes viator , Latr.” 1 
Mr. Peringuey, I am bound to say, fails to convince me, and I 
venture upon yet another explanation. 
Many of the species of Dichelus and Heterochelus burrow into the 
disks of Composite flowers, eating out the ovaries. When so engaged 
Fig. 8.— Diagram of posterior legs of Heterochelus , (x5 diam.). 
The body of the beetle is buried in the florets of a Composite flower. 
the whole of the body of the insect may disappear from view, or the 
extremity of the abdomen may alone protrude, but in either case 
the hind-legs extend beyond the florets, widely separated and closely 
resembling the open jaws of an ant-lion. While picking one out of 
a flower I was startled by receiving a very respectable pinch, or bite, 
inflicted by the formidable teeth mentioned above. 
Now the suggestion that I have to offer is this: while probably 
in the first instance adapted to assist the male insect in grasping its 
mate, these huge hind-legs are now of great advantage to the otherwise 
helpless beetle when burrowing into flowers in search of food. The 
widely gaping “jaws” may probably terrify some enemies, but they 
1 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society , vol. xii., pp. 625, 626. 
“ Descriptive Catalogue of the Coleoptera of South Africa. Hopliinae.” 1902. By 
L. Peringuey, F.E.S. 
