Colour
The metallic green colouring of the beetle's surface is the reflection of mostly circularly polarised light, typically left circularly polarized light. When viewed through a right circular polariser, they appear to be colourless. Many species of scarab beetles (scarabaeidae) are known to emit typically left circularly polarised light (see Circular polarization in nature).
Read more about this topic: Cetonia Aurata
Famous quotes containing the word colour:
“There’s no man may look upon her, no man,
As when newly grown to be a woman,
Tall and noble but with face and bosom
Delicate in colour as apple blossom.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I allow a Beauty to be as much to be commended for the Elegance of her Dress, as a Wit for that of his Language; yet if she has stolen the Colour of her Ribbands from another, or had Advice about her Trimmings, I shall not allow her the Praise of Dress, any more than I would call a Plagiary an Author.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)
“Circumstances ... give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing colour and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)