[Sheffield.the petals to await the coming Photo ly B. H. Bentley] COCKCHAFER ON DAISY.of a bee. When one of the larva of trees. feeds devours the roots of plants, The on the leaves which A very destructive insect mischief. serious as to cause oftenlatter appears, two or three of and is very so plentiful the grubs cling to its hairy body, and are carried back to the nest, in which they live as parasites. One of these beetles may be seen commonly upon grassy banks in early spring.

Allied to these insects is the BLISTER-BEETLE, or SPANISH FLY, so well known from its use in medicine. It is a very handsome species, of a bright golden-green colour, occasionally found in Great Britain on the foliage of ash-trees. In many parts of Southern Europe it is extremely abundant. The beetles belonging to the large and important group of WEEVILS are characterised, as a rule, by the fact that the head is prolonged into a more or less long and slender snout, "or rostrum," at the end of which the jaws are situated. The number of species already known is above 20,000.

of the World686 The Living Animals

One of the largest and most famous of these insects is the DIAMOND- BEETLE of Brazil, the scales from whose wing-cases are so frequently mounted as microscopic objects. When viewed through a good instrument under a powerful light, the beauty of these scales is simply indescribable. All that one can say of them is that they seem to be composed of diamonds, rubies, topazes, and emeralds massed together in rich profusion, while diamonds are transformed into rubies, rubies into topazes, and Photo by L. H. Joutel] [Ifew York. HARLEQUIN BEETLE. topazes into emeralds at Notice tiie-enonnous length of the front legs. every change of light. The OSIER-WEEVIL, a black-and-white species about three-eighths of an inch long, is found on osiers in Great Britain, the grub boring galleries in the stems, and often causing considerable damage. The well-known CORN-WEEVIL is still more destructive in granaries, the walls of which are often completely blackened by its crawling multitudes. The grub lives inside the grain, eating out the whole of the interior, and a single pair of the weevils are said to be capable of producing a family of more than 6,000 individuals in the course of a single season. The KICE-WEEVIL is equally destructive to rice, and may be recognised by the two red spots on each wing-case.

The famous" " GRU-GRU " of the West Indies, which is regarded as so great a dainty both by the negroes and by many of the white colonists, is the grub of the PALM- WEEVIL. It lives in the stems of palm-trees, and also in those of sugar-canes, causing a great deal of it constructs a cocoon by tearing off strips ofmischief by its burrowings. When fully fed, is still more troublesome, feedingbark and weaving them neatly together. The SUGAR-WEEVIL upon the juice of the sugar-cane,' and affecting the entire plant in such a manner that sugar it. can no longer be manufactured from " Bad " nuts are also due to one of these insects, the common NUT-WEEVIL, which introduces its egg into the kernel during the earlier stages of its development. When^ the grub hatches, it proceeds to devour the kernel, leaving a quantity of bad-flavoured "frass" behind it, while the shell is left untouched until the perfect insect emerges. An allied species attacks acorns in a similar manner. Among the finest and largest of all beetles are many of those belonging, to

Photo by J. Edward*} [Colesborne. the great Long-horn group, of which the is a familiar JUMPING-BEETLE. ALLIED TO THE TURNIP-FLEA. common BRITISH MUSK-BEETLE It is ahout one-tenth of an inch in- length. example. This insect owes both its popular

Sheath^winged Insects 687

and scientific titles to its powerful odour, which perhaps resembles that of sweetbriar rather than musk, and can often be detected at a distance of twenty or thirty yards. The beetle, which is rich metallic green in colour, with long, slender antennae, may be found in July sunning itself on the trunks or foliage of willow-trees. It varies considerably in size.

Still more plentiful is the WASP-BEETLE, with its black wing-cases banded with bright it bears. Theyellow. While flying, it may easily be mistaken for the insect whose name grub lives in old posts, rails, hop-poles, etc., feeding upon the solid wood.

The TIMBERMAN is remarkable for the extreme length of the antennae, which, in the male insect, are three or four times as.long as the body, and trail out far behind it during flight. It is found, not uncommonly, in fir woods in Scotland.

The beautiful HARLEQUIN BEETLE of tropical America is one of the largest members of the group, and is remarkable for the great length of the front legs as well as for the singular colouring of the wing-cases. It lives almost entirely in the trees, swinging itself from branch to branch somewhat after the it ventures into the air,manner of a spider-monkey. When it is greatly incommoded by the size of its limbs and the length of its antennae, and seems to have but little power of directing its course. Another great group of beetles is that of the PLANT-EATERS, many of which are exceedingly beautiful. The EEED-BEETLES of Britain, for example, are resplendent in crimson and green and purple and blue, while the metallic radiance of others has gained for them the title of GOLDEN APPLES.

The notorious COLORADO BEETLE is a member of this group. It may be recognised at once by the five black streaks running down each of the yellow wing-cases. On the havoc which it causes among potato-plants in North America it is unnecessary to dilate. On a smaller scale, the TURNIP-FLEA is very mischievous in Britain, perforating the leaves of turnip-plants, or worse still eating off the seed-leaves as soon as they appear above the surface of the ground. Of only too many of these isexquisite beetles, in fact, it must be said that their beauty only equalled by their destructiveness.

The LADYBIRDS include a very large number of species. Some of these, such as the common TWO-SPOT LADYBIRD, are exceedingly variable, a long series being easily obtained in Photo by J. Edwards, Colesbome. which no two specimens resemble one another. Both as grubs EEED-BEETLE. this insect to the which group Among of the are of the mostand as perfect insects they feed upon the " Green Fly " brilliantly belongs many beetles.farmer, combining with the grubs of the Lace-wing and Hoverer coloured British Flies to keep its numbers within due limits. is the SEVEN-SPOT LADYBIRD, a considerably larger insect, with Almost equally common seven round black spots on its scarlet wing-cases, which may be seen, on almost any grassy bank in spring. Both this and the preceding species sometimes visit the Kentish coast in vast swarms, the beach being reddened by their bodies for miles. The last immigration of this description took place in 1886, in the summer of which year the hops in East Kent were almost destroyed by blight, and the ladybirds made their way at once to the hop-fields and smaller species,cleared them of the pest in a wonderfully short space of time. A much known as the TWENTY-TWO SPOT, is yellow in colour and has eleven black spots on each wing-case. It is generally found crawling about on nettle-leaves in the early part of the summer.

Allied to the Ladybirds are the very curious TORTOISE-BEETLES. In these insects the wing-cases project to a considerable distance beyond the sides of the body, and the legs are likeso short that only the feet can be seen from above, so that the appearance is very much

that of a tortoise with the limbs partly withdrawn into the shell. Many different species are known, in some of which the wing-cases are streaked with brilliant metallic silver, which, however, fades away very shortly after death. The commonest of the British tortoise-beetles is found on thistles.

Another very large group of beetles is represented by the CELLAR-BEETLE, which is generally very common in old houses. This insect must not be confused with the so-called “ Black-beetle,” from which it may easily be distinguished by its deep black colour, its very much shorter feelers, and the curious point into which the end of its body is produced. It hides away in dark corners by day, and crawls slowly about by night. Related to it is the MEAL-WORM, so much in request for the food of cage-birds, which is usually very plentiful in granaries.

Very different in appearance, yet belonging to the same group, is the handsome CARDINAL BEETLE, a bright scarlet insect which is not uncommon in summer. It may sometimes be found lurking behind pieces of loose bark, and is also fond of resting upon the flowers of umbelliferous plants in the hot sunshine. A second species, which is not nearly so plentiful, may be distinguished by the fact that the head is entirely black.

Still more curious is the RHIPIPHORUS BEETLE, which is parasitic within the nests of wasps. Where the egg is laid, or how the grub first finds its way into the nest, no one has yet succeeded in discovering; but having made its entry, the insect proceeds to burrow into the body of a wasp-grub, and lives within it for several days, feeding upon its flesh meanwhile. After increasing considerably in size, it creeps out of the carcase of its victim and changes its skin, after which it resumes its interrupted meal, and continues to feed until the last vestige of the wasp-grub has been devoured. It then changes to a chrysalis in the cell, and the perfect insect appears a few days later. Oddly enough, the wasps appear to take no notice of its presence, and never attempt to molest it. The two sexes of this beetle are quite unlike one another, the male having the wing-cases yellow and the feelers heavily plumed, while the female is black, with the feelers only slightly toothed.

Most singular of all the insects belonging to this order, however, is the strange little STALK-EYED BEETLE, which spends the greater part of its life half buried in the body of a bee. In this insect the feelers are branched, somewhat like the antennules, or lesser feelers, of a lobster, and the eyes, which are comparatively few in number, are set at the ends of short foot-stalks. The male has very narrow wing-cases, but extremely large wings, which have a milky appearance during flight that can hardly be mistaken. The female has no wings at all, and in general aspect is nothing more than a grub. In early spring a great number of solitary bees are infested by this extraordinary parasite, which burrows into their bodies under cover of the projecting edges of the segments, and there remains feeding upon their internal juices for several weeks, with only just the tip of its tail protruding. When fully fed, it emerges from the body of its involuntary host, leaving a large round hole behind it, which

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