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Show 38 RIO DE JANEIRO. May-June, 1832. fewer numbers than in our own temperate region~. I was much surprised at the habits of Papilio feronia. This butterfly is not uncommon, and_ genera~y frequents the or~ngegroves. Although a high fher, yet It very frequently a~1g~ts on the trunks of trees. On these occasions its head IS mvariably placed downwards; and its wings a~e expan~ed in a horizontal plane, instead of being folded vertw~lly, as IS commonly the case. This is the only butterfly ':hich I have ev~r seen that uses its legs for running. Not bemg aware of th1s fact the insect more than once, as I cautiously approached ' ' . with my forceps, shuffled on one side just as the mstru-ment was on the point of closing, and thus escaped. But a far more singular fact, is the power which this species possesses of making a noise.* Several times when a pair, 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.t The noise was continued at short intervals, and could be distinguished at about twenty yards distance. I cannot form a conjecture how it is produced ; but 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 exceedingly great.* The cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast • I find in Langsdorff's 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. t Mr. W a~erhouse has had the kindness to examine this butterfly, but cannot discover any mechanism by which the noise is pro-duced. • I may mention, as a common instance of one day's (June 23d) col-lecting, 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 Carabidre, four Brachelytra, fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen of the Chrysomelidre. Thirty-seven species of Arachnidre, which I brought home, will be sufficient to prove that I was not paying overmuch attention to the generally favomed order of Coleoptera. May-June, 1832. EN'fOMOLOGY. 39 only of the larger species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to disturb the composure of an entomologist's mind, to look forward to the future dimensions of a complete catalo~ u~. The ~arabidre appear in extremely few numbers withm the tropics. This is the more remarkable when compared to the opposed case of the carnivorous mammalia an order wh~ch th~y certainly represent among insects. 1 ~as struck With this observation both on entering Brazil, and when I_ saw the elegant and active forms of the Harpalidre reappearmg on the ~emperate plains of La Plata. Do the very numerous Arachmdre and rapacious Hymenoptera supply the place of these carnivorous beetles? The carrion-feeders and Brachelytra are very uncommon ; on the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chrysomelidre, all of which depend on ~he vegetable world for subsistence, are present in astonishmg 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 character in the ent~mology of diffe~ ent countries. depends. The orders Orthoptera and He~ I~t~ra are particularly numerous; as likewise is the stinging division of the Hymenoptera; the bees, perhaps, being excepted. A person, on first entering a tropical forest is astonished at the labours of the ants : well-beaten p~ths b~a:lCh off in every direction, on which an army of neverfailmg. foragers may be seen, some going forth, and others returnm~, burdened with pieces of green leaf, often larger than their own bodies. A small dark-coloured species sometimes migrates in countless numbers. One day, at Bahia, my attention was ~rawn by observing many spiders, cockroaches, and other msects, and son;te lizards, rushing in the greatest agitation across a bare piece of ground. A little way behind, every stalk and leaf was blackened by a small ant. The swarm having crossed the bare space, divided itself, and descended an old wall. By this me~ns many insects were fairly enclosed; and the efforts, whwh the poor little creatures made to extricate ihemscl \'es from such a death, were wonderful. |