Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/372

 were met with which are not known in any other part of South America. The small-leaved bushes and low trees on the skirts of the forest and along the more open pathways were sparingly tenanted by a variety of curious phytophagous beetles. None of these offered any remarkable feature, except perhaps the species of Chlamys. These are small beetles of a cubical shape and grotesque appearance, the upper surface of their bodies being studded with tubercles. They look like anything rather than insects; some of them are an exact imitation of the dung of caterpillars on leaves; others have a deceptive likeness to small flower-buds, galls, and other vegetable excrescences, whilst some large kinds are like fragments of metallic ore. They are very sluggish in their motions, and live in the most exposed situations on the surface of leaves; their curious shapes are therefore no doubt so many disguises to protect them from the keen eyes of insectivorous birds and lizards. A nearly allied group, the Lamprosomas, of which several species occurred in the same places, have perfectly smooth convex bodies; these glitter like precious stones on the foliage, and seem to be protected by the excessive hardness of their integuments. The Eumolpidæ and Galerucidæ, two groups belonging also to the leaf-eating family, were much more numerous than the Chlamydes and Lamprosomas, although having neither the disguised appearance of the one nor the hard integuments of the other; but many of them secrete a foul liquor when handled, which may perhaps serve the same purpose of passive defence. The Chlamydes are almost confined to the warmer parts of America, and