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Published in 2018 by Struik Travel & Heritage (an imprint of Penguin
Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd)
Reg. No. 1953/000441/07
The Estuaries No. 4, Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City,
7441
PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa

www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za
First published in hardcover by New Holland Publishers in 1993
Second and third editions published in softcover by New Holland
Publishers in 1995 and 2000
Fourth edition published by Struik Travel & Heritage in 2018

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © in text, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2018: Peter Borchert and
Sean Fraser
Copyright © in photographs, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2018: Individual
photographers and/or their appointed agents listed below
Copyright © in map, 2018: Penguin Random House South Africa
(Pty) Ltd
Copyright © in published edition, 2018: Penguin Random House
South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Publisher: Pippa Parker

Managing editor: Roelien Theron
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FRONT COVER: V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. Insets (left to right):
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lighthouse; wild flowers, Namaqualand; red-headed weaver bird
HALF TITLE: Leopard, MalaMala Game Reserve
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CONTENTS
Introduction

The Land

The People

The Regions

The Path of History

A New Era
INTRODUCTION
The association of a people with the land they live
in is by and large universally complex. The history of
countries spans national, regional and local
happenings that, together with cultural identities,
both ancient and modern, create an intricate web of
allegiances and affiliations. South Africa is no
different. But in some respects, perhaps, its journey
down the path of time to the present has been
longer and more complex than most.
Many factors are at play and in this context it
would be a brave person, and probably a fairly
foolish one, who would venture a tight definition
and declare with confidence that ‘This is South
Africa’. Even an introductory essay such as this will,
inevitably, run a gauntlet of criticism for bias,
omission, oversimplification and unintended
prejudice.
For how can one tell the story of South Africa
completely and to the satisfaction of all in the space
of a few thousand words? Quite simply, one cannot,
and the text and captions for this book make no
pretence at doing so. All that is offered here is a
series of glimpses, some more personal, others
more broadly based, that will give the casual reader
– particularly the newcomer or tourist – a few
pointers to this endlessly fascinating and very lovely
land.

THE LAND
South Africa is a big country. Even its subdivisions –
into nine provinces – are mostly sizeable, the
exception being the densely populated economic
and financial powerhouse of Gauteng, an almost
continuous conurbation around the two major cities
of Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The land – more than 1.2 million square
kilometres in extent – sprawls from the Limpopo
River in the north to the southern extremity of Cape
Agulhas, where Africa peters out rather
unimpressively in a jumble of low, windswept sand
dunes and shallow reefs.
It is difficult to comprehend just how much
physical diversity there is. Reduced to simple terms,
however, three major features determine the shape
and the form of the land: a coastal plain that fringes
the entire subcontinent, a vast and rising inland
plateau and, separating the two, an irregular chain
of rugged mountains which, here and there, rather
begrudgingly allows road and rail access between
the coast and the interior.

A place of vast, open spaces, South Africa’s landscape varies from

rocky plateaus and steep mountains to deep valleys and fertile
farmland.
 In the east, and forming a virtually continuous
escarpment running down from Limpopo, across the
northern limits of KwaZulu-Natal and then on into
the Eastern Cape, is the towering Drakensberg
range. In KwaZulu-Natal, where the uKhahlamba –
the Zulu name for the range (meaning ‘barrier of
spears’) – soars to heights of more than 3,000
metres, this alpine wilderness is at its most
spectacular. In winter thick snow can blanket the
peaks and often the lower slopes, briefly softening
the rough face of Africa. But for most of the year
the crags are bare and challenging, inviting legions
of climbers and hikers.
In the Western Cape the mountain ranges are
no less dramatic, but were borne of different forces
when heaving and buckling resulted in the contorted
rock strata of what are collectively known as the
Cape Fold Mountains.
The South African hinterland – the plateau – is
far from uniform in character and much of it is
occupied by the Great Karoo. For some this is a
bleak semi-desert to be traversed as quickly as
possible, but for others the endless scrubby plains,
punctuated here and there with typically flat-
crowned hills, or koppies, have a beauty all their
own.
 To the north of the Karoo the land continues to
rise steadily in a series of low scarps across the
Orange River, through the flat farms and goldfields
of the central Free State and on over the Vaal River.
Here the farms give way abruptly to mining,
industry and the biggest coming together of people
south of Lagos and Cairo.

The discovery of diamonds on a farm near present-day Kimberley in

1871 triggered one of the biggest diamond rushes in the world. Vast
deposits of kimberlite were extracted from an open-pit mine, today
called the Big Hole, between 1871 and 1914.

Rocks and minerals

South Africa’s principal geological features are about
three billion years old and are of Precambrian origin.
This makes them among the most ancient rocks on
earth. The country’s gold- and iron-bearing ores
were formed at this time, while the volcanic
upheavals that created South Africa’s renowned
diamond-bearing pipes took place much more
recently in geological time – about one billion years
ago.
The mineral wealth of South Africa is diverse,
prodigious and the foundation upon which the
country’s position as arguably the most powerful
economy in Africa has been built. Not only does it
have some of the largest gold, diamond, chromite
and vanadium reserves in the world, but it also has
the greatest known deposits of manganese and
platinum. The country’s mineral reserves are
estimated at an astonishing US$4.71 trillion. No
wonder then that mining has been such a mainstay
of the economy, even though its relative
contribution to South Africa’s gross domestic product
has declined over the past two decades.
Coal reserves, too, are considerable. They are
the primary fuel of the country’s power-generating
facilities and, despite growing global calls for cleaner
energy, coal is unlikely to be toppled any time soon
from its strategic pedestal.
South Africa’s geological riches are said to be far
from exhausted and there is much potential for the
discovery of other world-class deposits across the
gamut of strategic metals and minerals.

Endemic flora and fauna are determined by geographical location

and regional climate patterns. Kosi Bay on the east coast is
influenced largely by the warm Benguela Current.

The climatic pattern

South Africa is famous for its sunshine and the
lengthy, warm summers that go a long way to
making it such a popular tourist destination. But,
with that said, the weather is surprisingly variable,
and winters can and often do bring icy weather.
The rough triangle of land that is South Africa is
swept by two great ocean rivers – the icy Benguela
Current of the Atlantic Ocean that flows north from
the Southern Ocean across the southern tip of Africa
and along the West Coast, and the equally powerful
but warm Mozambique Current of the Indian Ocean
that flows along the eastern shores. These, together
with the general lie of the land, which progresses
inland in a series of scarps and a rising plateau,
pretty well dictate South Africa’s predominantly
subtropical climate. If one were to try to reduce the
country’s climate to a single generalisation,
however, it would by and large be true to say that
the western parts of the country tend to be dryer
than the east.
South Africa’s coastal plain is comparatively well
watered. The Mediterranean-type climate of the
Western Cape means that it receives its share of
rain mostly in winter, and the long months of
summer are hot and dry. The east coast of the
country is subject to often monsoon-like summer
downpours, creating sticky, steamy days, with the
evenings providing little relief. Along the southern
coast, where forests – human-made and indigenous
– clothe the landscape, the weather, mild for the
most part, can be wet at any time of the year.
But rain is an irregular happening in South Africa
– average precipitation is only about 460 millimetres
a year – and the spectre of drought always looms.
Although the coast can be hard hit, nowhere is the
threat more real than on the vast plains of the
interior. Here, especially in the central and western
parts, where rain falls sparingly even in the kinder
seasons, dry periods sometimes can last several
years, causing crop failures, the death of livestock
and game, and human misery.

Plants and animals

South Africa is one of the most biodiverse places on
the planet. Even in the driest of parts, the Karoo,
the scrubby sandveld of Namaqualand and
northwards into the Kalahari Desert, life abounds.
About ten per cent of all flowering plants known
to science grow here in Africa’s southernmost land.
The list is simply staggering. Witness the Cape
Floral Kingdom: for a start it is the smallest of the
global floristic kingdoms and it is the only one found
entirely within the boundaries of a single country.
But even more astonishing is that this region, which
occupies no more than half a per cent of Africa’s
entire land area, has the highest known
concentration of plant species in the world. Its
closest rival, the great swathe of South American
rainforest, has only a third of the number. Some
9,600 species of plant occur here, and 70 per cent of
them are not found anywhere else on earth.
Not surprisingly, the Cape Floral Kingdom, which
embraces the fynbos so famous for its proteas,
ericas, restios, geraniums and other species, is a
World Heritage Site. But, before we get too carried
away with superlatives, it has to be noted that no
fewer than 1,736 of its plants are regarded as
threatened.
Continuing the theme of floral wonder, to the
north of Cape Town lies the West Coast and
Namaqualand, which – dry, dusty and almost
monochrome for much of the year – erupts for a few
short weeks every spring into one of the most
spectacular wild flower displays in the world.
In terms of terrestrial ecological zones, however,
South Africa is far more than just the flowers of the
Western Cape. In addition to the fynbos, there two
types of Karoo vegetation as well as forests (South
Africa has more than a thousand indigenous tree
species), thickets, savanna (including the thorn
trees that are so redolent of wild Africa), grassland
and desert that form part of South Africa’s varied
landscapes.
Conservation priorities range from the fynbos of the Cape,
represented by the king protea (left), to the white rhino (above),
found predominantly in the northern regions.

Of its wild animals, best known of course are the

iconic mammals – the apex predators such as lions,
leopards, cheetahs, hyaenas and wild dogs, as well
as elephants, rhinos, giraffes, buffaloes and hippos.
The southern African bushveld is the subcontinent’s
most impressive wildlife showcase, and the primary
destination for game viewers, environmentalists and
wildlife photographers. One of the main reasons for
this is that it is home to Africa’s Big Five: lion,
elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo. Rhino poaching
is a world crisis today; nevertheless, white and black
rhinos are still encountered in the northern
bushveld, as are large herds of buffaloes. Visitors
still tend to home in on the country’s big cats and
other large mammals, but there are numerous
smaller and often lesser-known species, among
them baboons, jackals, squirrels, hyraxes, zebras
and warthogs. These, and the antelopes, are but a
handful of the 200-odd mammal species that occur
in South Africa.
The diversity of landscapes and microclimates
means that there is also a great variety of birdlife.
Almost a thousand bird species are resident on the
subcontinent, with more than half of these occurring
in South Africa’s northern regions, specifically the
country’s largest and most significant national park.
The Kruger National Park alone boasts an
extraordinary list of some 500 species, among them
its own Big Six: kori bustard, martial eagle, saddle-
billed stork, lappet-faced vulture, ground hornbill
and Pel’s fishing owl.
It’s not just about the birds and mammals,
however, for the smaller creatures – the snakes and
lizards, tortoises and frogs – are all part of the
mosaic of life, each one in its way dependent on the
other. And let’s not overlook the seas – home to
some 2,000 species of fish and where whales,
dolphins and great white sharks have become great
tourism attractions in their own right.

Parks and reserves

As with almost every other place on earth, we
humans have altered the landscapes of the natural
world – dramatically and in some cases irrevocably.
Cities sprawl across the veld, especially the
grasslands, and cling to the coastline, while
industries and farmland have also taken their toll on
the natural environment. Yet South Africa, thanks to
the foresight and commitment of conservation
organisations and individuals, has done much to
preserve the land and the creatures that are part of
it. The network of national parks and private
reserves gives sanctuary to a variety of animals that
is the envy of the world and one of the most
important reasons that South Africa has such a
buoyant nature-based tourism industry.
 With a land mass of more than 1.2 million square
kilometres, South Africa has total of 152,469 square
kilometres under conservation. These protected
areas include 19 national parks (covering four
million hectares, and thus 67 per cent of
conservation land under state management), as
well as over a thousand private reserves and 500
privately owned game farms. This makes the region
one of the most conservation-conscious areas on
the continent and one of the most significant wildlife
sanctuaries in the world.
South Africa’s wide diversity of gazetted park
land ranges from the Eastern Cape’s Addo Elephant
National Park to the Free State’s Golden Gate
Highlands National Park, Mpumalanga’s Blyde River
Canyon to KwaZulu-Natal’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park,
and Cape Town’s Table Mountain National Park,
which encompasses much of the Cape peninsula.
Prime among the parks, however, is Kruger: a vast,
rugged expanse of some 20,000 square kilometres
of bushveld, widely recognised as being among the
finest wildlife reserves in the world. Stretching for
about 350 kilometres across the border of
Mpumalanga and Limpopo, it offers superb game-
viewing opportunities. Visitors – said to be nearly a
million people annually – are rewarded with
sightings of many of southern Africa’s mammals
(147 species), reptiles (116 species) and birds
(about 500 species), as well as a multitude of
amphibians and insects. Unsurprisingly, the park is
acclaimed across the globe for its sound wildlife
management and conservation programmes, and
also for the quality of its visitors’ facilities, especially
accommodation, which varies from rustic bush
camps to serviced bungalows and chalets.
Adjoining Kruger are several private reserves
that take the safari experience to a whole new level,
among them Sabi Sands, MalaMala, Londolozi and
Timbavati. Not unexpectedly, many cater for visitors
who benefit well from the exchange rate of the rand
against foreign currencies and the quality of the
hospitality and service is surpassed only by the
settings, the sheer luxury of the lodgings and the
reward of some of the best game viewing in the
world.

THE PEOPLE
Exactly where, and precisely how long ago, it was
that hominin creatures first stood upright is the
subject of endless debate by scientists, but most
agree that the long journey of descent to modern
humans began here in Africa. In many ways it
seems that the palaeontological surface of the
continent has hardly been scratched, such are the
startling finds that continue to be made.
In South Africa the record is especially rich,
particularly in a complex of limestone caves over 60
kilometres northwest of Johannesburg. So much so
in fact that the area has become known as the
Cradle of Humankind and was declared a Unesco
World Heritage Site in 1999. It was in these caves
that a 2.3-million-year-old hominin fossil
Australopithecus africanus was found in 1947. The
discovery of ‘Mrs Ples’, as the fossil was nicknamed
(although ‘she’ might well be ‘he’ as the sex could
not be determined), supported an earlier A.
africanus find, the ‘Taung Child’, discovered in 1924
some 400 kilometres to the southwest.
Jump to 2015 and another startling revelation
about human evolution was announced to the
world. Near the heritage site, but not part of it, is
the Rising Star Cave system and it was here that no
fewer than 15 fossil skeletons of an extinct species
of Homo, our own genus, were discovered in what
has come to be known as the Dinaledi Chamber.
The age of the Homo naledi remains (as the species
has been called) is estimated to be between
236,000 and 335,000 years old – making it likely
that H. naledi lived alongside the first Homo
sapiens. Although it is not yet clear how it was that
so many ‘bodies’ got to the chamber in the first
place, the find is undoubtedly significant.
Along the South African coast there are shellfish
middens dating back 100,000 years that reveal the
early presence of our own species, Homo sapiens.
These predate, by some 40,000 to 50,000 years, the
event that scientists refer to as the ‘creative
explosion’ when a burgeoning of the human ability
to identify and create representations of things took
place. We know this from paintings of animals on
cave walls in France, but why not from Africa where,
after all, humans evolved? Well, the evidence has
been here all along, although scientists had just not
got round to finding it. When they did, a surprise
awaited them. The evidence pointed to a spurt of
creative ability some 20,000 years before the
origination of the magnificent cave paintings in
southern Europe. But there was controversy around
this assertion – until the discovery of Blombos Cave
near Still Bay at the southern tip of Africa.
Archaeological work at the Blombos site began in
the early 1990s. Apart from sophisticated bone and
stone tools and fish bones (indicating the skill of
fishing), an abundance of used ochre was found.
This earthy natural pigment has no economic
function, but it is universally known and used as a
source of colour for ceremonial and decorative
purposes. A recent discovery at Blombos includes
shell beads that have been deliberately perforated
and red-stained with ochre. The Blombos ochre
dates back 70,000 to 80,000 years before the
present, evidence that squarely puts the people who
lived here in pole position regarding the earliest
signs of human symbolic thought.

Migration and settlement

The early coastal dwellers of southern Africa were
surely the ancestors of the first indigenous people,
known as the Khoisan. The term is used guardedly,
however, as it remains problematic in terms of both
accuracy and prejudice. Khoisan is a collective noun
made from the words ‘Khoi’ (the Khoikhoi who were
cattle-owning pastoralists) and ‘San’ (the San were
hunter-gatherers). Prior to this, these groups were
known (by outsiders) as ‘Hottentots’ and ‘Bushmen’
respectively, appellations that have pejorative
connotations. Nevertheless, ‘Khoisan’, at least for
the moment, seems the most acceptable collective
term for these people who slowly spread northwards
from the coast to the Zambezi valley.
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D, terminal portion of body of larva. (After Coquerel.)

Fam. 51. Sphindidae.—This family of half a dozen species of rare

and small Insects, differs from Cioidae by the tarsi being five-jointed
at any rate on the front and middle feet, opinions differing as to
whether the number of joints of the hind tarsi is four or five. These
Insects live in fungi growing in wood, e.g. Reticularia hortensis, that
are at first pulpy and afterwards become powder. The larvae of both
of our British genera, Sphindus and Aspidiphorus, have been
described by Perris, who considers them allied to the fungivorous
Silphidae and Latridiidae. The systematic position of these Insects
has been the subject of doubt since the days of Latreille.

Fam. 52. Bostrichidae (Apatidae of some authors).—Tarsi five-

jointed, but the first joint very short and imperfectly separated from
the second; front coxae prominent, contiguous, very little extended
transversely; five visible ventral segments. The Bostrichidae attack
dry wood, and sometimes in such large numbers that timber is
entirely destroyed by them; most of them make cylindrical burrows
into the wood. The larvae have the posterior part of the body
incurved, and resemble the wood-boring larvae of Anobiidae rather
than the predaceous larvae of Cleridae. We follow Leconte and Horn
in placing Lyctides as a division of Bostrichidae; although differing
very much in appearance, they have similar habits and larvae. The
typical Bostrichides are remarkable for their variety of sculpture and
for the shapes of the posterior part of the body; this part is more or
less conspicuously truncate, and furnished with small prominences.
Dinapate wrightii, found in the stems of a species of Yucca in the
Mojave desert of California, attains a length of nearly two inches; its
larva is extremely similar to that of A. capucina. Some of the forms
(Phonapate) stridulate in a manner peculiar to themselves, by
rubbing the front leg against some projections at the hind angle of
the prothorax. Upwards of 200 species of the family are known. In
Britain we have only four small and aberrant forms.

Fig. 125—Apate capucina. Europe. A, Larva (after Perris); B, perfect

Insect.

Fam. 53. Ptinidae.—Tarsi five-jointed, first joint not reduced in size,

often longer than second; front and middle coxae small, not
transversely extended, the former slightly prominent; five visible
ventral segments; prosternum very short. Here are included two sub-
families, Ptinides and Anobiides; they are considered as distinct
families by many authors, but in the present imperfect state of
knowledge[124] it is not necessary to treat them separately.

Fig. 126—"Biscuit-weevil." Anobium paniceum.

 Fig. 127.—Early stages of Anobium paniceum. A, Eggs, variable in
form; B, larva; C, pupa; D, asymmetrical processes terminating
body of pupa. [This larva is probably the "book-worm" of
librarians].

Ptinidae are sometimes very destructive to dried animal matter, and

attack specimens in museums; Anobiides bore into wood, and
apparently emerge as perfect Insects only for a very brief period;
Anobium (Sitodrepa) paniceum is, however, by no means restricted
in its tastes; it must possess extraordinary powers of digestion, as
we have known it to pass several consecutive generations on a diet
of opium; it has also been reported to thrive on tablets of dried
compressed meat; in India it is said to disintegrate books; a more
usual food of the Insect is, however, hard biscuits; weevilly biscuits
are known to every sailor, and the so-called "weevil" is usually the
larva of A. paniceum (Fig. 127, B). In the case of this Insect we have
not detected more than one spiracle (situate on the first thoracic
segment); the other known larvae of Anobiides are said to possess
eight abdominal spiracles. The skeleton in some of this sub-family is
extremely modified, so as to allow the Insects to pack themselves up
in repose; the head is folded in over the chest, and a cavity existing
on the breast is thus closed by the head; in this cavity the antennae
and the prominent mouth-parts are received and protected; the legs
shut together in an equally perfect manner, so that no roughness or
chink remains, and the creature looks like a little hard seed. Anobium
striatum is a common Insect in houses, and makes little round holes
in furniture, which is then said to be "worm-eaten." A. (Xestobium)
tessellatum, a much larger Insect, has proved very destructive to
beams in churches, libraries, etc. These species are the "death-
watches" or "greater death-watches" that have been associated with
the most ridiculous superstitions (as we have mentioned in Volume
V., when speaking of the lesser death-watches, or Psocidae). The
ticking of these Insects is really connected with sex, and is made by
striking the head rapidly against the wood on which the Insect is
standing.
The very anomalous genus Ectrephes (Fig. 128) is found in ants'
nests in Australia. Westwood placed it in Ptinidae. Wasmann has
recently treated it as a distinct family, Ectrephidae, associating it with
Polyplocotes and Diplocotes, and treating them as allied to
Scydmaenidae.

Fig. 128—Ectrephes kingi. West Australia. (After Westwood.)

Fam. 54. Malacodermidae.—Seven (or even eight) visible ventral

segments, the basal one not co-adapted in form with the coxae; tarsi
five-jointed. Integument softer than usual, the parts of the body not
accurately co-adapted. This important family includes a variety of
forms: viz. Lycides, Drilides, Lampyrides, Telephorides; though they
are very different in appearance, classifiers have not yet agreed on
separating them as families. Of these the Lampyrides, or glow-
worms, are of special interest, as most of their members give off a
phosphorescent light when alive; in many of them the female is
apterous and like a larva, and then the light it gives is usually
conspicuous, frequently much more so than that of its mate; in other
cases the males are the most brilliant. The exact importance of these
characters in the creatures' lives is not yet clear, but it appears
probable that in the first class of cases the light of the female serves
as an attraction to the male, while in the second class the very
brilliant lights of the male serve as an amusement, or as an
incitement to rivalry amongst the individuals of this sex.
 Fig. 129—Phengodes hieronymi. Cordoba, South America. (After
Haase.) A, Male; B, female. l, l, Positions of luminous spots; ls,
spiracles. About × 3.

The well-known fire-flies (Luciola) of Southern Europe are an

example of the latter condition. They are gregarious, and on calm,
warm nights crowds of them may be seen moving and sparkling in a
charming manner. These individuals are all, or nearly all, males; so
rare indeed is the female that few entomologists have even noticed
it. The writer once assisted in a large gathering of Luciola italica in
the Val Anzasca, which consisted of many hundreds of specimens;
all of those he caught, either on the wing or displaying their lights on
the bushes, were males, but he found a solitary female on the
ground. This sex possesses ordinary, small eyes instead of the
large, convex organs of the male, and its antennae and legs are
much more feeble, so that though provided with elytra and wings it is
altogether a more imperfect creature. Emery has given an account of
his observations and experiments on this Insect, but they do not give
any clear idea as to the exact function of the light.[125] In our British
glow-worm the female is entirely apterous—hence the name glow-
worm—but the male has elytra and ample wings, and frequently flies
at night into lighted apartments. Although so little has been
ascertained as to the light of Lampyridae, there are two facts that
justify us in supposing that it is in some way of importance to the
species. These are: (1) that in a great many species the eyes have a
magnificent and unusual development; (2) that the habits of the
creatures are in nearly all cases nocturnal. It is true that the little
Phosphaenus hemipterus is said to be diurnal in habits, but it is
altogether an exceptional form, being destitute of wings in both
sexes, and possessed of only very feeble light-giving powers, and
we have, moreover, very little real knowledge as to its natural history;
it is said that the female is of the utmost rarity, though the male is not
uncommon.

The nature of the luminosity of Lampyris has given rise to many

contradictory statements; the light looks somewhat like that given off
by phosphorus, and is frequently spoken of as phosphorescence; but
luminescence is a better term. The egg, larva, pupa, and male are
luminous as well as the female (at any rate in L. noctiluca); the
luminescence is, however, most marked in the female imago, in
which it is concentrated near the extremity of the abdomen; here
there are two strata of cells, and many fine capillary tracheae are
scattered through the luminous substance. Wielowiejski concludes
that the light-producing power is inherent in the cells of the luminous
organ, and is produced by the slow oxidation of a substance formed
under the influence of the nervous system. The cells are considered
to be essentially similar to those of the fat-body.[126] The
luminescence of Lampyridae is very intermittent, that is to say, it is
subject to rapid diminutions and increases of its brilliancy; various
reasons have been assigned for this, but all are guesses, and all that
can be said is that the changes are possibly due to diminution or
increase of the air-supply in the luminous organ, but of the way in
which this is controlled there seems to be no evidence. Considerable
difference of opinion has existed as to the luminescence of the eggs
of Lampyris. If it exist in the matter contained in the egg, it is evident
that it is independent of the existence of tracheae or of a nervous
system. Newport and others believed that the light given by the egg
depended merely on matter on its exterior. The observations of
Dubois[127] show, however, that it exists in the matter in the egg; he
has even found it in the interior of eggs that had been deposited
unfertilised.

From time to time, since the commencement of the nineteenth

century, there have appeared imperfect accounts of extraordinary
light-giving larvae found in South America, of various sizes, but
attaining in some cases a length, it is said, of three inches; they are
reported as giving a strong red light from the two extremities of the
body, and a green light from numerous points along the sides of the
body, and hence are called, it is said, in Paraguay the railway-beetle.
We may refer the reader to Haase's paper[128] on the subject of
these "larvae," as we can here only say that it appears probable that
most of these creatures may prove to be adult females of the
extraordinary group Phengodini, in which it would appear that the
imago of the female sex is in a more larva-like state than it is in any
other Insects. The males, however, are well-developed beetles;
unlike the males of Lampyrides, in general they have not peculiar
eyes, but on the other hand they possess antennae which are
amongst the most highly developed known, the joints being
furnished on each side with a long appendage densely covered with
pubescence of a remarkable character. There is no reason to doubt
that Haase was correct in treating the Insect we figure (Fig. 129, B)
as a perfect Insect; he is, indeed, corroborated by Riley.[129] The
distinctions between the larva and female imago are that the latter
has two claws on the feet instead of one, a greater number of joints
in the antennae, and less imperfect eyes; the female is in fact a
larva, making a slightly greater change at the last ecdysis, than at
those previous. It is much to be regretted that we have so very small
a knowledge of these most interesting Insects. Malacodermidae are
probably the most imperfect or primitive of all beetles, and it is a
point of some interest to find that in one of them the phenomena of
metamorphosis are reduced in one sex to a minimum, while in the
other they are—presumably at least—normal in character.

Numerous larvae of most extraordinary, though diverse, shapes,

bearing long processes at the sides of the body, and having a head
capable of complete withdrawal into a slender cavity of the thorax,
have long been known in several parts of the world, and Dr. Willey
recently found in New Britain a species having these body-processes
articulated. Though they are doubtless larvae of Lampyrides, none of
them have ever been reared or exactly identified.

A very remarkable Ceylonese Insect, Dioptoma adamsi Pascoe, is

placed in Lampyrides, but can scarcely belong there, as apparently it
has but five or six visible ventral segments; this Insect has two pairs
of eyes, a large pair, with coarse facets on the under side of the
head, and a moderate-sized pair with fine facets on the upper side.
Nothing is known as to the habits of this curiosity, not even whether it
is luminous in one or both sexes.

It is believed that the perfect instar of Lampyrides takes no food at

all. The larvae were formerly supposed to be vegetarian, but it
appears probable that nearly all are carnivorous, the chief food being
Mollusca either living or dead. The larvae are active, and in many
species look almost as much like perfect Insects as do the imagos.

The other divisions of Malacodermidae—Lycides, Drilides,

Telephorides—also have predaceous, carnivorous larvae. All these
groups are extensive. Though much neglected by collectors and
naturalists, some 1500 species of the family Malacodermidae have
been detected. We have about 50 in Britain, and many of them are
amongst the most widely distributed and abundant of our native
Insects. Thus, however near they may be to the primitive condition of
Coleoptera, it is highly probable that they will continue to exist
alongside of the primitive Cockroaches and Aptera, long after the
more highly endowed forms of Insect-life have been extinguished
wholesale by the operations of mankind on the face of the earth.

Fig. 130—Malachius aeneus. Britain. A, Larva (after Perris); B, female

imago.

Fam. 55. Melyridae (or Malachiidae).—Six visible and moveable

ventral abdominal segments; the basal part more or less distinctly
co-adapted with the coxae. These Insects are extremely numerous,
but have been very little studied. In many works they are classified
with Malacodermidae, but were correctly separated by Leconte and
Horn, and this view is also taken by Dr. Verhoeff, the latest
investigator. The smaller number of visible ventral segments appears
to be due to a change at the base correlative with an adaptation
between the base of the abdomen and the hind coxae. The
characters are singularly parallel with those of Silphidae; but in
Melyridae the antennae are filiform or serrate, not clavate. The
habits in the two families are different, as the Melyridae are
frequenters of flowers. Many of the Melyridae have the integument
soft, but in the forms placed at the end of the family—e.g. Zygia—
they are much firmer. Thus these Insects establish a transition from
the Malacodermidae to ordinary Coleoptera. Although the imagos
are believed to consume some products of the flowers they frequent,
yet very little is really known, and it is not improbable that they are to
some extent carnivorous. This is the case with the larvae that are
known (Fig. 130, larva of Malachius aeneus). These are said by
Perris to bear a great resemblance to those of the genus Telephorus,
belonging to the Malacodermidae.

Fam. 56. Cleridae.—Tarsi five-jointed; but the basal joint of the

posterior very indistinct, usually very small above, and closely united
with the second by an oblique splice; the apices of joints two to four
usually prolonged as membranous flaps; anterior coxae prominent,
usually contiguous, rather large, but their cavities not prolonged
externally; labial palpi usually with large hatchet-shaped terminal
joint; ventral segments five or six, very mobile. The Cleridae are very
varied in form and colours; the antennae are usually more or less
clubbed at the tip, and not at all serrate, but in Cylidrus and a few
others they are not clubbed, and in Cylidrus have seven flattened
joints. The student should be very cautious in deciding as to the
number of joints in the feet in this family, as the small basal joint is
often scarcely distinguishable, owing to the obliteration of its suture
with the second joint. The little Alpine Laricobius has the anterior
coxal cavities prolonged externally, and the coxae receive the
femora to some extent, so that it connects Cleridae and
Derodontidae. The Cleridae are predaceous, and their larvae are
very active; they are specially fond of wood-boring Insects; that of
Tillus elongatus (Fig. 131) enters the burrows of Ptilinus pectinicornis
in search of the larva. The members of the group Corynetides
frequent animal matter, carcases, bones, etc., and, it is said, feed
thereon, but Perris's recent investigations[130] make it probable that
the larvae really eat the innumerable Dipterous larvae found in such
refuse; it is also said that the larvae of Cleridae spin cocoons for
their metamorphosis; but Perris has also shown that the larvae of
Necrobia ruficollis really use the puparia formed by Diptera. Some of
the species of Necrobia have been spread by commercial
intercourse, and N. rufipes appears to be now one of the most
cosmopolitan of Insects. The beautifully coloured Corynetes
coeruleus is often found in our houses, and is useful, as it destroys
the death-watches (Anobium) that are sometimes very injurious.
Trichodes apiarius, a very lively-coloured red and blue beetle,
destroys the larvae of the honey-bee, and Lampert has reared
Trichodes alvearius from the nests of Chalicodoma muraria, a
mason-bee; he records that one of its larvae, after being full grown,
remained twenty-two months quiescent and then transformed to a
pupa. Still more remarkable is a case of fasting of the larva of
Trichodes ammios recorded by Mayet;[131] this Insect, in its
immature form, destroys Acridium maroccanum; a larva sent from
Algeria to M. Mayet refused such food as was offered to it for a
period of two and a half years, and then accepted mutton and beef
as food; after being fed for about a year and a half thereon, it died.
Some Cleridae bear a great resemblance to Insects of other families,
and it appears probable that they resemble in one or more points the
Insects on which they feed. The species are now very numerous,
about 1000 being known, but they are rare in collections; in Britain
we have only nine species, and some of them are now scarcely ever
met with.
 Fig. 131—Larva of Tillus elongatus. (New Forest). A, Head; B, front
leg; C, termination of the body, more magnified.

Fam. 57. Lymexylonidae.—Elongate beetles, with soft integuments,

front and middle coxae exserted, longitudinal in position; tarsi
slender, five-jointed; antennae short, serrate, but rather broad.
Although there are only twenty or thirty species of this family, they
occur in most parts of the world, and are remarkable on account of
their habit of drilling cylindrical holes in hard wood, after the manner
of Anobiidae. The larva of Lymexylon navale was formerly very
injurious to timber used for constructing ships, but of late years its
ravages appear to have been of little importance. The genus
Atractocerus consists of a few species of very abnormal Coleoptera,
the body being elongate and vermiform, the elytra reduced to small,
functionless appendages, while the wings are ample, not folded, but
traversed by strong longitudinal nervures, and with only one or two
transverse nervures. Owing to the destruction of our forests the two
British Lymexylonidae—L. navale and Hylecoetus dermestoides—
are now very rarely met with.

Fig. 132—Hydrocyphon deflexicollis. Britain. A, Larva (after Tournier);

B, imago.

Fam. 58. Dascillidae.—Small or moderate-sized beetles, with rather

flimsy integuments, antennae either serrate, filiform, or even made
flabellate by long appendages; front coxae elongate, greatly
exserted; abdomen with five mobile ventral segments; tarsi five-
jointed. This is one of the most neglected and least known of all the
families of Coleoptera, and one of the most difficult to classify;
though always placed amongst the Serricornia, it is more nearly
allied to Parnidae and Byrrhidae, that are placed in Clavicornia, than
it is to any of the ordinary families of Serricornia. It is probable that
careful study will show that it is not natural as at present constituted,
and that the old families, Dascillidae and Cyphonidae, now
comprised in it, will have to be separated. Only about 400 species
are at present known; but as nearly 100 of these have been detected
in New Zealand, and 17 in Britain, doubtless the numbers in other
parts of the world will prove very considerable, these Insects having
been neglected on account of their unattractive exterior, and fragile
structure. The few larvae known are of three or four kinds. That of
Dascillus cervinus is subterranean, and is believed to live on roots; in
form it is somewhat like a Lamellicorn larva, but is straight, and has a
large head. Those of the Cyphonides are aquatic, and are
remarkable for possessing antennae consisting of a great many
joints (Fig. 132, A). Tournier describes the larva of Helodes as
possessing abdominal but not thoracic spiracles, and as breathing
by coming to the surface of the water and carrying down a bubble of
air adhering to the posterior part of the body; the larva of
Hydrocyphon (Fig. 132, A) possesses several finger-like pouches
that can be exstulpated at the end of the body. It is probable that
these larvae are carnivorous. The imago of this Insect abounds on
the bushes along the banks of some of the rapid waters of Scotland;
according to Tournier, when alarmed, it enters the water and goes
beneath it for shelter. The third form of larva belongs to the genus
Eucinetus, it lives on fungoid matter on wood, and has ordinary
antennae of only four joints.[132] It is very doubtful whether Eucinetus
is related to other Dascillidae; some authorities indeed place it in
Silphidae.

Fam. 59. Rhipiceridae.—Tarsi five-jointed, furnished with a robust

onychium (a straight chitinous process bearing hairs) between the
claws; antennae of the male bearing long processes, and sometimes
consisting of a large number of joints. Mandibles robust, strongly
curved, and almost calliper-like in form. This small family of less than
100 species is widely distributed, though confined to the warmer
regions of the earth, a single species occurring in the extreme south
of Eastern Europe. Very little is known as to the natural history. The
larva of Callirhipis dejeani (Fig. 133, A) is described by Schiödte as
hard, cylindrical in form, and peculiarly truncate behind, so that there
appear to be only eight abdominal segments, the ninth segment
being so short as to look like an operculum at the extremity of the
body. It lives in wood.

Fig. 133—A, Larva of Callirhipis dejeani (after Schiödte); B, Rhipicera

mystacina male, Australia; C, under side of its hind foot.

Fig. 134—Athous rhombeus. New Forest. A, Larva; B, female imago.

Fam. 60. Elateridae (Click-beetles).—Antennae more or less serrate

along the inner margin, frequently pectinate, rarely filiform. Front
coxae small, spherical. Thorax usually with hind angles more or less
prolonged backwards; with a prosternal process that can be received
in, and usually can move in, a mesosternal cavity. Hind coxa with a
plate, above which the femur can be received. Visible ventral
segments usually five, only the terminal one being mobile. Tarsi five-
jointed. This large family of Coleoptera comprises about 7000
species. Most of them are readily known by their peculiar shape, and
by their faculty of resting on the back, stretching themselves out flat,
and then suddenly going off with a click, and thus jerking themselves
into the air. Some, however, do not possess this faculty, and certain
of these are extremely difficult to recognise from a definition of the
family. According to Bertkau[133] our British Lacon murinus is
provided near the tip of the upper side of the abdomen with a pair of
eversible glands, comparable with those that are better known in
Lepidopterous larvae. He states that this Insect does not try to
escape by leaping, but shams death and "stinks away" its enemy.
The glands, it would appear, become exhausted after the operation
has been repeated many times. The extent of the leap executed by
click-beetles differs greatly; in some species it is very slight, and only
just sufficient to turn the Insect right side up when it has been placed
on its back. In some cases the Insects go through the clicking
movements with little or no appreciable result in the way of
consequent propulsion. Although it is difficult to look on this clicking
power as of very great value to the Elateridae, yet their organisation
is profoundly modified so as to permit its accomplishment. The
junction of the prothorax with the after-body involves a large number
of pieces which are all more or less changed, so that the joint is
endowed with greater mobility than usual; while in the position of
repose, on the other hand, the two parts are firmly locked together.
The thoracic stigma is of a highly remarkable nature, and the
extensive membrane in which it is placed appears to be elastic.
Although the mechanics of the act of leaping are still obscure, yet
certain points are clear; the prosternal process possesses a
projection, or notch, on its upper surface near the tip; as a
preliminary to leaping, this projection catches against the edge of the
mesosternal cavity, and as long as this position is maintained the
Insect is quiescent; suddenly, however, the projection slips over the
catch, and the prosternal process is driven with force and rapidity
into the mesosternal cavity pressing against the front wall thereof,
and so giving rise to the leap.

Several larvae are well known; indeed the "wire-worms" that are
sometimes so abundant in cultivated places are larvae of Elateridae.
In this instar the form is usually elongate and nearly cylindrical; the
thoracic segments differ but little from the others except that they
bear rather short legs; the skin is rather hard, and usually bears
punctuation or sculpture; the body frequently terminates in a very
hard process, of irregular shape and bearing peculiar sculpture on its
upper surface, while beneath it the prominent anal orifice is placed:
this is sometimes furnished with hooks, the function of which has not
yet been observed. The majority of these larvae live in decaying
wood, but some are found in the earth; as a rule the growth is
extremely slow, and the life of the larva may extend over two or more
years. Some obscurity has prevailed as to their food; it is now
considered to be chiefly flesh, though some species probably attack
decaying roots; and it is understood that wire-worms destroy the
living roots, or underground stems, of the crops they damage.
Various kinds of Myriapods (see Vol. V. p. 29) are often called "wire-
worm," but they may be recognised by possessing more than six
legs. The larvae of the genus Cardiophorus are very different, being
remarkably elongate without the peculiar terminal structure, but
apparently composed of twenty-three segments.

The genus Pyrophorus includes some of the most remarkable of

light-giving Insects. There are upwards of 100 species, exhibiting
much diversity as to the luminous organs; some are not luminous at
all; but all are peculiar to the New World, with the exception that
there may possibly be luminous species, allied to the American
forms, in the Fiji Islands and the New Hebrides. In the tropics of
America the Pyrophorus, or Cucujos, form one of the most
remarkable of the natural phenomena. The earliest European
travellers in the New World were so impressed by these Insects that
descriptions of their wondrous display occupy a prominent position in
the accounts of writers like Oviedo, whose works are nearly 400
years old. Only one of the species has, however, been investigated.
P. noctilucus is one of the most abundant and largest of the
Pyrophorus, and possesses on each side of the thorax a round
polished space from which light is given forth; these are the organs
called eyes by the older writers. Besides these two eye-like lamps
the Insect possesses a third source of light situate at the base of the
ventral surface of the abdomen; there is no trace of this latter lamp
when the Insect is in repose; but when on the wing the abdomen is
bent away from the breast, and then this source of light is exposed;
hence, when flying, this central luminous body can be alternately
displayed and concealed by means of slight movements of the
abdomen. The young larva of P. noctilucus is luminous, having a
light-giving centre at the junction of the head and thorax; the older
larva has also numerous luminous points along the sides of the body
near the spiracles. It is remarkable that there should be three
successive seats of luminescence in the life of the same individual.
The eggs too are said to be luminous. The light given off by these
Insects is extremely pleasing, and is used by the natives on
nocturnal excursions, and by the women for ornament. The structure
of the light-organs is essentially similar to that of the Lampyridae.
The light is said to be the most economical known; all the energy
that is used being converted into light, without any waste by the
formation of heat or chemical rays. The subject has been
investigated by Dubois,[134] who comes, however, to conclusions as
to the physiology of the luminous processes different from those that
have been reached by Wielowiejski and others in their investigations
on Glow-worms. He considers that the light is produced by the
reactions of two special substances, luciferase and luciferine.
Luciferase is of the nature of an enzyme, and exists only in the
luminous organs, in the form, it is supposed, of extremely minute
granules. Luciferine exists in the blood; and the light is actually
evoked by the entry of blood into the luminous organ.

We have given to this family the extension assigned to it by

Schiödte. Leconte and Horn also adopt this view, except that they
treat Throscides as a distinct family. By most authors Eucnemides,
Throscides, and Cebrionides are all considered distinct families, but
at present it is almost impossible to separate them on satisfactory
lines. The following table from Leconte and Horn exhibits the
characters of the divisions so far as the imago is concerned:—

Posterior coxae laminate; trochanters small.

Labrum concealed; antennae somewhat distant from the eyes, their
insertion narrowing the front .......... Eucnemides.
Labrum visible, free; antennae arising near the eyes under the frontal
margin .......... Elaterides.
 Labrum transverse, connate with the front.
Ventral segments six; claws simple; tibial spurs well developed. ..........
Cebrionides.
Ventral segments five; claws serrate; tibial spurs moderate. ..........
Perothopides.
Posterior coxae not laminate; trochanters of middle and posterior legs very
long ..........Cerophytides.

Fig. 135—Larva of Fornax n. sp. Hawaii. A, Upper side; B, under side:

s s, position of spiracles; C, head more enlarged; D, under side of
terminal segment; a, anus.

Throscides are considered to be distinguished by the mesosternum

being impressed on each side in front for the accommodation of the
posterior face of the front coxae. The genus Throscus has the
antennae clavate. The classification of the Elaterides and these
forms is a matter of the greatest difficulty, and, if the larvae are also
considered, becomes even more complex. Cebrionid larvae are
different from those of any of the other divisions, and possess
laminate, not calliper-like, mandibles. The larvae of Eucnemides
(Fig. 135) are very little known, but are highly remarkable, inasmuch
as it is very difficult to find any mouth-opening in some of them, and
they have no legs. The other divisions possess very few species
compared with Elaterides. In Britain we have about sixty species of
Elaterides, four of Throscides and three of Eucnemides; Cerophytum
was probably a native many years ago. Neither Perothopides nor
Cebrionides are represented in our fauna; the former of these two
groups consists only of four or five North American species, and the
Cerophytides are scarcely more numerous.
Fam. 61. Buprestidae.—Antennae serrate, never elongate;
prothorax fitting closely to the after-body, with a process received
into a cavity of the mesosternum so as to permit of no movements of
nutation. Five visible ventral segments, the first usually elongate,
closely united with the second, the others mobile. Tarsi five-jointed,
the first four joints usually with membranous pads beneath. This
family is also of large extent, about 5000 species being known. Many
of them are remarkable for the magnificence of their colour, which is
usually metallic, and often of the greatest brilliancy; hence their wing-
cases are used by our own species for adornment. The elytra of the
eastern kinds of the genus Sternocera are of a very brilliant green
colour, and are used extensively as embroidery for the dresses of
ladies; the bronze elytra of Buprestis (Euchroma) gigantea were
used by the native chieftains in South America as leg-ornaments, a
large number being strung so as to form a circlet. The integument of
the Buprestidae is very thick and hard, so as to increase the
resemblance to metal. The dorsal plates of the abdomen are usually
soft and colourless in beetles, but in Buprestidae they are often
extremely brilliant. The metallic colour in these Insects is not due to
pigment, but to the nature of the surface. Buprestidae appear to
enjoy the hottest sunshine, and are found only where there is much
summer heat. Australia and Madagascar are very rich in species and
in remarkable forms of the family, while in Britain we possess only
ten species, all of which are of small size, and nearly all are
excessively rare. The family is remarkably rich in fossil forms; no
less than 28 per cent of the Mesozoic beetles found by Heer in
Switzerland are referred to Buprestidae.

Fig. 136—A, Larva of Euchroma goliath (after Schiödte); B, imago of

Melanophila decostigma. Europe.
The larvae (Fig. 136, A) find nourishment in living vegetable matter,
the rule being that they form galleries in or under the bark of trees
and bushes, or in roots thereof; some inhabit the stems of
herbaceous plants and one or two of the smaller forms have been
discovered to live in the parenchyma of leaves. A few are said to
inhabit dead wood, and in Australia species of Ethon dwell in galls
on various plants. Buprestid larvae are of very remarkable shape,
the small head being almost entirely withdrawn into the very broad
thorax, while the abdomen is slender.[135] A few, however, depart
from this shape, and have the thoracic region but little or not at all
broader than the other parts. The larvae of Julodis—a genus that
inhabits desert or arid regions—are covered with hair; they have a
great development of the mandibles; it is believed that they are of
subterranean habits, and that the mandibles are used for burrowing
in the earth. Only the newly hatched larva is, however, known.

Series IV. Heteromera.

Tarsi of the front and middle legs with five, those of the hind legs with
four, joints.

This series consists of some 14,000 or 15,000 species. Twelve or

more families are recognised in it, but the majority of the species are
placed in the one great family, Tenebrionidae. The number of visible
ventral segments is nearly always five. Several of the families of the
series are of doubtful validity; indeed beyond that of Tenebrionidae
the taxonomy of this series is scarcely more than a convention. The
larvae may be considered as belonging to three classes; one in
which the body is cylindrical and smooth and the integument harder
than usual in larvae; a second in which it is softer, and frequently
possesses more or less distinct pseudopods, in addition to the six
thoracic legs; and a third group in which hypermetamorphosis
prevails, the young larvae being the creatures long known as
Triungulins, and living temporarily on the bodies of other Insects, so
that they were formerly supposed to be parasites.
Fam. 62. Tenebrionidae.—Front coxae short, not projecting from
the cavities, enclosed behind. Feet destitute of lobed joints. Claws
smooth. This is one of the largest families of Coleoptera, about
10,000 species being already known. A very large portion of the
Tenebrionidae are entirely terrestrial, wings suitable for flight being
absent, and the elytra frequently more or less soldered. Such forms
are described in systematic works as apterous. Unfortunately no
comprehensive study has ever been made of the wings or their
rudiments in these "apterous forms."[136] it is probable that the
wings, or their rudiments or vestiges, always exist, but in various
degrees of development according to the species, and that they are
never used by the great majority of the terrestrial forms. Many of the
wood-feeding Tenebrionidae, and the genera usually placed at the
end of the family, possess wings well adapted for flight. The apterous
forms are chiefly ground-beetles, living in dry places; they are very
numerous in Africa, California, and North Mexico. Their colour is
nearly always black, and this is probably of some physiological
importance; the integuments are thick and hard, and if the wing-
cases are taken off, it will be found that they are usually more or less
yellow on the inner face, even when jet-black externally; the external
skeleton is very closely fitted together, the parts that are covered
consisting of very delicate membrane; the transition between the
hard and the membranous portions of the external skeleton is
remarkably abrupt. These ground-Tenebrionidae form a very
interesting study, though, on account of their unattractive
appearance, they have not received the attention they deserve.

Fig. 137—Tenebrio molitor. Europe, etc. A, Larva (meal-worm); B, pupa

(after Schiödte); C, imago.

Many of the Tenebrionidae, notwithstanding their dark colours, are

diurnal in habits, and some of them run with extreme velocity in