Total 402 species, besides twenty or thirty obscure species. NOTES ON A FEW OF THE ABOVE COLEOPTERA. It is extremely difficult, among many interesting groups, to select a few for special notice; but I may mention the fireflies (Lampyride and Telephoride), and the genus Lytta (Cantharida), which are used medicinally. "The genus Cyphus, peculiar to South America, is one of the finest of the family; some of the species, e.g. Hancocki, are the largest and most magnificent of known Curculionidæ."* "Four splendid species constitute the genus Entimus; they are imperialis, Fors., splendidus, Fabr., nobilis, Oliv., from Brazil, and granulatus, Linn., from Cayenne. They have been known for a long time, and are more or less common in collections. With the exception of splendidus, which is adorned by patches-partly confluent, of a brilliant coppery green, all are uniformly covered with scales of a beautiful golden green. They are peculiar to South America, and are generally found together in more or less numerous bands. I have several times seen, in Brazil, mimosas loaded with specimens of imperialis, so that their branches bent under the weight." † The beautiful little metallic blue beetle, Compsocerus jucundus, Dej., is worth mentioning, as it has curious black hairy tufts in the middle of its delicate long antennæ. Mr. Bates refers to another Longicorn, Coremia hirtipes, which has a tuft of hair on its hind legs, and remarks, "It suggests curious reflections when we see an ornament like the feather of a grenadier's cap situated on one + Ibid., 283. ‡ Vol. i. p. 209. * Lac. vi. 115. part of the body in one species, and in a totally different part in nearly allied ones. I tried in vain to discover the use of these curious brush-like decorations." I have already referred to the genera Chlamys and Poropleura in my article on Mimicry. I may add under that head the genus Batonota, which, like some of the Homoptera, resemble thorns. One other Brazilian beetle peculiar to Minas Geraes, to which I must refer, is Hypocephalus armatus, Desm. The Rev. Hamlet Clark, in a letter from Constantia, Organ Mountains, in 1856, writes: "Only three examples, I believe, are known of H. armatus, or Anglice, the mole-cricket beetle, from its quaint resemblance to a mole-cricket. Well, I had some drawings of this creature made from the figure Mr. Smith gave me, and distributed them among some lively-looking slaves here, with the promise of three milreis (about six or seven shillings) for every specimen they would bring me. But these negroes have such exuberant imaginations! Yes, they all had seen it, had seen it often, knew it well, one had found it under rotten wood, another had seen it frequently in his plantation, a third had seen it in the path only the other day; but all this is only talk (three milreis would be a fortune to any of them), and no Hypocephalus has ever made its appearance.” M. Desmarest says,† "It is a most anomalous beetle of large size, from the province of the mines in the interior of Brazil, whose natural relations have perplexed all subsequent entomologists." Mr. J. O. Westwood remarks, "The insect exhibits, as M. Desmarest well observes, a certain analogy with the mole-cricket in the large size of the prothorax, thick hind legs, and short antennæ." The length of Mr. Westwood's specimen was three inches and half a line long; he believed that this one was then (1845) the only one existing in metropolitan cabinets. M. Desmarest's specimen was two inches and one-fifth long; while that described by Gistl was two inches and one-twelfth long. Mr. Westwood mentions that a specimen was bought for the Paris Museum of Natural History at the price of 700 francs. Professor Burmeister considers "the curious animal Hypocephalus" to be a Longicorn of * "Letters Home," p. 141. London, 1867. ↑ "Guérin's Magazin de Zoologie," 1832, vol. i. p. 24. ++ the sub-family Prionidæ. My friend, Mr. Melvill, lately (1885) bought a specimen from Mr. Janson, of Little Russell Street, who wrote to him as follows: "Two specimens were received from Signor de Laenda, of Bahia, who obtained them from the interior: one of these, the smaller, I sold to M. van de Poll, of Amsterdam, in July last (1885); the other, now sent to you, I had intended keeping, as, beyond a specimen in the British Museum and one in Mr. Alexander Fry's collection, there are, I believe, no others in London, or probably in this country." Mr. C. O. Waterhouse of the British Museum has confirmed this statement. The "Catalogus Coleopterorum" gives the names of over 73,000 species of beetles; the Curculionida and Chrysomelida being each represented by over 10,000 species, the Geodephaga and Lamellicornes by 8000 each, and Longicornes by 7500. NOTES ON OTHER INSECTS. In the foregoing notes on insects, I have placed Lepidoptera in the first place, because butterflies are certainly the best known and the most favoured, on account of their displaying themselves everywhere and their vivid colouring. In reality, the highest order of insects is Hymenoptera,* then follow Coleoptera, which are succeeded by Lepidoptera. I shall now refer to the Hymenoptera, and then proceed with the other orders in their proper sequence HYMENOPTERA. Bees and Wasps.—I have frequently alluded to the honey-bees and wasps in my journal, and as I did not collect them (though I have about a dozen species), I think it unnecessary to say more than a word about them. On one occasion, in the spring (September 3, 1883), we came across a very neatly shaped wasps' nest in a tree, and, wishing to preserve it, I had the insects driven out, carried off the nest, and placed it in another tree some hundred yards off. On returning in the evening, we found that the wasps. had discovered their nest, and were again in possession. These * The cerebral ganglia are more developed in ants than in any other insect. Belt's "Nicaragua," p. 28. |