At first nivorous one, and that such formidable weapons were used for and destroying other insects. In the purpose of capturing Stag Beetle is essentially a feeder on juices, which reality the by wounding twigs and fruits with the sharp teeth it obtains If kept in captivity, it will feed on moistened of its mandibles. and has a curious way of flattening itself on the ground, sugar, in order to reach the sugar with its tongue. Indeed, it only of offence, when it fights for the posuses its jaws as weapons session of the female, or when it is captured and wishes to It will bite fiercely in such a case, and, if kept alive, escape.

resent with open jaws any attempt to disturb it. will XIII. Fig. 3, is represented an insect which is

On Woodcut allied to the Stag Beetle, the short, powerful, toothed evidently exactly like the tips of the Stag Beetle’s mandibles looking jaws. This Beetle is called scientifically Dorcus parallelopihas no popular name. The word Dorcus, pedus, but, I believe, the name being given to the in Greek, signifies an antelope, of the shape of its jaws, which are insect in consequence of the antelope, as those of the thought to resemble the horns the horns of the stag. The speciiic

preceding insect resemble

name is in allusion to its peculiar form.

The genus is distinguished from Lucanus by the comparative shortness of the jaws in the male, and the club of the antennae, which is more leaf-like than that of the Stag Beetle. In the female the jaws are comparatively small and simple. It is not a pretty Beetle as far as colour goes, for it is dull, dead-black, the whole of the surface being covered with very fine punctures. In the male these are very much finer on the head and thorax than on the elytra, so that these members have a sort of gloss somewhat resembling that of a new black kid glove. If the head be examined, the eyes will be seen to be nearly severed by the margins of the head, which overlap them considerably in front, though not behind.

This insect is found plentifully in those parts of the country where the Stag Beetle abides, and, in consequence, is very common along the Thames valley of Kent. It is, however, to be seen in places where the Stag Beetle does not live, for in the late Mr. Hope’s note-book I found a memorandum, stating that in 1820 he had caught the Dorcus at Oxford, where the Stag Beetle is, as above-mentioned, not known. My own specimens were taken in Wiltshire. Like the Stag Beetle, this insect lives in rotten wood, the female digging holes in which she may lay her eggs, the powerful fore-legs being used for the purpose.

Although, as has been already stated, this insect has no popular name, there is no reason why it should not have one. We will therefore confer one upon it by literally translating its scientific title, and will call it the Antelope Beetle.

CHAPTER VIII.

Sternoxl

The group that now comes before us is a very boldly marked one, and yet has been described under more than one title. Some entomologists have selected the word Serrico'i'nes, or ‘ saw-borned,’ because the antennae are serrated, i.e. notched, like the teeth of a saw, two examples of which may be seen on Woodcut XIII. Figs, a and c. As, however, so many Beetles that do not belong to this group have their antennae serrated, the word has been abandoned in favour of Stemoxi, or ‘ sharpbreasted,’ because the prosternum, or under side of the thorax (see Woodcut I. Fig. 8), is prolonged backwards with a sort of spike, which fits into a cavity between the middle pair of legs, t This projection is technically named the ‘ mucro,’ or dagger, f The body is long, rather cylindrical, but slightly flattened, and | the antennae are' mostly serrated, but sometimes pectinated, ' and in a few instances nearly plain and thread-like. There , are other distinctions, but these are so hold and evident that | they will he (^uite sufficient for the reader s purpose.

Most of these insects possess the curious power of leaping, j which has earned for them the popular title of Skipjack Beetles. ? Their legs are very short, so that if the Beetle should by any j chance fall on its back on a flat sm-face, it would have no | of recovering itself, hut for the curious piece of me- | power chanism of which the ‘ mucro ’ forms a portion. Whenever j the Beetle falls on its back, and cannot recover itself, it hes | moments, and then begins to arch its body, so still for a few rests only upon the end of the abdomen and the back that it the thorax being well elevated. By this moveof the head, is draivn out of the groove into which it fits. ment, the mucro reverses its position and springs the elastic Suddenly, the'‘insect thus driving the base of the elytra against mucro into its place, causing itself to fly up into the air. the ground, and

This apparatus is shown on Woodcut XIII. Fig. d, which represents the under side of the thorax. The mucro is seen in the middle, as it appears when its point is lifted out of the hollow, and the two dark lines above represent the grooves in which the antennae lie in order to protect them from the shock of the fall. The spring is always accompanied with a slight but sharp clicking sound, from which these insects have derived the name of Click Beetles. There is an absolute necessity for this curious provision of nature. The Click Beetles are all feeble, slow, and defenceless, and their only way of escaping from an enemy is by loosening their hold of the herbage on which they are crawling, and allowing themselves to drop to the ground. The sweep-net is very useful in catching these Beetles, as it anticipates the movement, and captures them as they fall.

If put on a plate or other hard substance, the insect will jump a surprising height. On a very smooth smface like that of a plate, the legs can take no hold as the insect falls, and it generally rolls over on its back again. It instantly repeats the jump, and again failing to secure a hold, seems to get into a passion, leaping seven or eight times in rapid succession, and then to turn sulky, lying on its back without moving a limb. These insects have large wings, and are able to use them well, though without much power of directing their course. They always fly with the head well upwards and the body drooping downwards, and are so slow that they can be captured easily by hand. They have an ingenious habit of flying to some upright gi-een stem, clinging to it just below the seed-vessels, and quickly closing their wings ; so that, even when the spot where they them. alighted has been observed, it is no easy matter to see

y E Will now proceed to describe one or two typical examples of this group. The first family, the Buprestidje, is known by the short serrated antennae, the hinder angles of the thorax which are not produced backward into spines, and by the manner in w ich the prothorax sits so closely against the base of the elytra that there is no power of leaping. Thus, in one sense hey have no right to be ranked among the Skipjacks or Click eetles, except as Skipjacks that cannot skip, and Click Beetles

that cannot click. The body is always hard, rigid, and metallic in its colouring. In England, our species of Buprestidae are comparatively small ; but many exotic species, especially those of South America, are of very large size, and absolutely gorgeous in colour, their bodies having every shade of scarlet, blue, purple, gold, and copper, and their surfaces being in very many cases polished like burnished metal.

I may here mention that the word Buprestis is of Greek origin, and signifies ‘ ox-swelling.’ The name was given by the earlier naturalists to a sort of Beetle which, according to popular ideas, was eaten by cattle together with the grass, and caused their bodies to swell to such an extent that the animals died. The name has for many years been applied to this family of Beetles, and, in default of a better, has been retained. I need scarcely remark that a banquet on green clover is quite sufficient to cause an ox to swell and perhaps die, without the addition of any Beetle whatever.

Of these insects our example will be Agrilus higuttatus, which is represented on Woodcut XIII. Fig. 4. In the genus Agrilus the body is cylindrical, the thorax is squared, and the basal joint of the antennse is very short.

This is a lovely insect, and it is a great pity that its beautiful colour cannot be properly indicated by black and white. The colour of the upper surface is brilliant-blue or green, with a bronzed gloss, and towards the apex of each elytron, and close to the suture, is a cream-coloured spot covered with thick but short hair. The whole of the upper surface is rendered richer in its colouring by the way in which it is broken up by wrinkles and punctures on the head and thorax, and profuse granulation on the elytra. Beneath, it is also blue or green, with the excepwhite down-covered spots on the sides. tion of several pure The legs are of the same colour as the elytra. this is not a very common species, it is at all

Although not one of our rarities, and is one of the many beautiful events Beetles which are to be captured in Darenth wood. This British British Buprestid®, and is the best repreis the largest of the exotic relations. It flies well, and sentation of its gorgeous on the wing as well as by the sweep-net. As for

can be taken a chance against this lovely but prothe hand, it has scarcely takes alarm at the least movement of its voking Beetle, which

intended captor, folds its limbs and antennae closely to its body, and falls to the ground, where search is almost useless, its small green body harmonising so well with the colour of the herbage.

At Fig./ on the same woodcut the larva of this insect is shown, rather magnified, though not so much as the Beetle itself. In its larval stage of existence the insect lives in dead or decaying trees, usually just under the bark. The present species prefers the oak, and burrows under the bark of the old oak-stumps that are left by the woodcutters after they have felled the trees. When the larvae are full-fed they make their cells between the bark and the tree itself, and, like many other brightly-coloured Beetles, remain in the pupal cell for some time after they have thrown off the pupal envelope, so that the integuments of the body may gain their full hardness before the insect moves into the open air.

Passing by the family of the Eucnemidse, which, like that of the Buprestidse, has the prothorax fitting so closely against the base of the elytra that the insect cannot leap, we come to the typical genus, of which om' example is Elcbtev sangv/JMeus^ drawn on Woodcut XIII. Fig. 5. In this family the antennae are long, and inserted just in front of the eyes, which are large and round. The two hinder angles of the thorax are produced into spines pointing backwards, and the mucro is able to move freely in the cavity into which it fits, in consequence of the distance between the base of the elytra and the thorax. In this genus the tarsi are bristly, the joints becoming gradually smaller, the body is flattened, and the sides of the thorax are not widened. The name Slater is Greek, and signifies a ‘striker’ or ‘hmler,’ the name being given to the insect in consequence of its powL of hurling itself into the air.

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