II 
COLEOPTERA 
35 
probably male and female, were chasing each other in an irregular 
course, they passed within a few yards of me ; and I distinctly 
heard a clicking noise, similar to that produced by a toothed 
wheel passing under a spring catch. The noise was continued 
at short intervals, and could be distinguished at about 
twenty yards’ distance : I am certain there is no error in the 
observation. 
I was disappointed in the general aspect of the Coleoptera. 
The number of minute and obscurely-coloured beetles is exceed- 
ingly great. 1 The cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast only of 
the larger species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to 
disturb the composure of an entomologist’s mind, to look for¬ 
ward to the future dimensions of a complete catalogue. The 
carnivorous beetles, or Carabidae, appear in extremely few 
numbers within the tropics : this is the more remarkable when 
compared to the case of the carnivorous quadrupeds, which are 
so abundant in hot countries. I was struck with this observa¬ 
tion both on entering Brazil, and when I saw the many elegant 
and active forms of the Harpalidae reappearing on the temper¬ 
ate plains of La Plata. Do the very numerous spiders and 
rapacious Hymenoptera supply the place of the carnivorous 
beetles? The carrion-feeders and Brachelytra are very un¬ 
common ; on the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chryso- 
melidse, all of which depend on the vegetable world for sub¬ 
sistence, are present in astonishing numbers. I do not here 
refer to the number of different species, but to that of the 
individual insects ; for on this it is that the most striking char¬ 
acter in the entomology of different countries depends. The 
orders Orthoptera and Hemiptera are particularly numerous ; as 
likewise is the stinging division of the Hymenoptera ; the bees, 
perhaps, being excepted. A person, on first entering a tropical 
means of its making its noise. He says, “ It is remarkable for having a sort of drum 
at the base of the fore wings, between the costal nervure and the subcostal. These 
two nervures, moreover, have a peculiar screw-like diaphragm or vessel in the interior.” 
I find in Langsdorffs travels (in the years 1803-7, p. 74) it is said, that in the island 
of St. Catherine’s on the coast of Brazil, a butterfly called Februa Hoffmanseggi 
makes a noise, when flying away, like a rattle. 
1 I may mention, as a common instance of one day’s (June 23rd ) collecting, when 
I was not attending particularly to the Coleoptera, that I caught sixty-eight species 
of that order. Among these, there were only two of the Carabidae, four Brachelytra, 
.fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen of the Chrysomelidae. Thirty-seven species of 
Arachnidse, which I brought home, will be sufficient to prove that I was not paying 
-overmuch attention to the generally favoured order of Coleoptera. 
