Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . to any definitepattern, there is none what- Fio. 27-Hydattcus feBtivus. d therefore ifc fe gome_ (1 ellow and black.) what startling to find any ofthe family which not only possess bright colours, but are markedwith a bold and sharply defined pattern. Such is the insect now before us, a native of the East is exceedingly variable both in the details of the pattern andin the colour, and the present example has been selected asshowing the kind of pattern which predominates. The co
Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . to any definitepattern, there is none what- Fio. 27-Hydattcus feBtivus. d therefore ifc fe gome_ (1 ellow and black.) what startling to find any ofthe family which not only possess bright colours, but are markedwith a bold and sharply defined pattern. Such is the insect now before us, a native of the East is exceedingly variable both in the details of the pattern andin the colour, and the present example has been selected asshowing the kind of pattern which predominates. The coloursare so exactly balanced that it is almost impossible to say whichis the ground hue and which is the colour of the pattern, but asthe dark hue is most conspicuous we will take that as formingthe pattern. The ground hue, then, is always some shade of yellow, insome specimens pale, but in others becoming nearly orange, andthe pattern is deep, shining black, so that it must be a veryconspicuous insect when darting through the water. In somespecimens, however, where the ground colour is very decidedly. WHIRLIGIG BEETLES. 69 orange, the pattern is dark brown. The specific name offestivus, or handsome, is given to it in consequence of itsbeautiful colouring. The Gyrinidse, or Whirligig Beetles, of foreign countriesfollow the same rule as the Dyticidse, being scarcely larger thanour familiar British species, and resembling them also in colourand form. There is, however, one group of Gyrinidse which isso utterly unlike the British species that it is well worthy ofdescription. This is the genus Porrorliyuchus. This rather crabbed word is a very appropriate one. It iscomposed of two Greek words, the former signifying ? forward,and the other a snout. It is given to these insects becausetheir heads are lengthened in front to a point which projectsforward like the snout of a pig or any similar animal. Theword, by the way, might have been written with equal accuracyProsorhynchus, and so
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1883
