PDF - Wallace Online

290 TROPICAL NATUREmost conspicuousof all the beetle tribe. The weevils andtheir allies are also very interesting, from their immensenumbers, endless variety, and the extreme beauty of many ofthe species. The Anthribidae, which are especially abundantin the Malay Archipelago, rival the Longicorns in the immenselength of their elegant antennae while the diamond beetles of;Brazil, the Eupholi of the Papuan islands, and the Pachyrhynchiof the Philippines, are veritable living jewels.Where a large extent of virgin forest is cut down in theearly part of the dry season, and some hot sunny weatherfollows, the abundance and variety of beetles attracted by thebark and foliagein various stages of drying is amazing. Theair is filled with the hum of their wings. Golden and greenBuprestidae are flying about in every direction, and settlingon the bark in full sunshine. Green and spotted rose-chafershum along near the ground ; long-horned Anthribidae aredisturbed at every step ; elegant little Longicorns circleabout the drying foliage, while larger species fly slowlyfrom branch to branch. Every fallen trunk is full of life.Strange mottled, and spotted, and rugose Longicorns, endlessCurculios, queer -shaped Brenthidae, velvety brown or steelblueCleridae, brown or yellow or whitish click beetles(Elaters), and brilliant metallic Carabidae. Close by, inthe adjacent forest, a whole host of new forms are found.Elegant tiger-beetles, leaf-hunting Carabidae, musk-beetles ofmany sorts, scarlet Telephori, and countless Chrysomelas,Hispas, Coccinellas, with strange Heteromera, and many curiousspecies which haunt fungi, rotten bark, or decaying leaves.With such variety and beauty the most ardent entomologistmust be fully satisfied ;and when, every now and then, someof the giants of the tropics fall in hisway grand Prionidae orLamiidae several inches long, a massive golden Buprestis, or amonster horned Dynastes he feels that his most exaltednotions of the insect-life of the tropics are at length realised.Wingless InsectsPassing on to other orders of insects, the hemipteradragon -flies and true flies hardly call for special remark.Among them are to be found a fair proportion of large andhandsome species, but they require much searching after in