ODOR-OF=LEATHER BEETLES. 



The name refers to the "odor of leather." 

 Osmoderma Both of our species are largely nocturnal 

 and come to lights. 0. eremicola is an inch, or more, long; 

 shiny dark brown; head deeply excavated between the 

 eyes in both sexes, the edge with a tubercle above the base 

 of the antennas; elytra sparsely punctate. 0. scabra 

 is not more than an inch long; purplish-black, bronzed; 

 head of male as in eremicola, of female nearly flat; elytra 

 roughly sculptured. The larva of the latter, and probably 

 of the former also, lives in the hollows of beech, cherry, 

 and apple trees, feeding upon the rotten wood. In the 

 autumn, it makes an oval cell of fragments of wood strongly 

 cemented with a kind of glue. In this it pupates, emerging 

 the next summer. 



We have only two species of this genus. 

 Valgus Their pronotum has a deep median groove, 



and the body is more or less covered with whitish scales 

 instead of hairs. Adults hibernate in groups on the ground 

 but under some shelter such as half-buried logs. V. 

 canaliculatus is .25 in., or less, long; reddish-brown, feebly 

 shining; sides of pronotum, and base, middle, and apex 

 of elytra sparsely clothed with yellowish scales; front 

 tibiae with three or more slender, widely separated teeth 

 on the outer side. V. squamiger is slightly larger and 

 darker; front tibiae with five or six closely placed, stout, 

 rounded teeth. 



The hind coxae touch each other; the 

 Trichius pronotum is rounded at base and has no 



median groove; elytra not longer than wide; body pubes- 

 cent. Three of our more common species may be partially 

 separated as follows, all being a trifle less than .5 in. long. 

 Elytra reddish-brown, tinged with green, without trans- 

 verse, whitish bands or velvety spots on the sides; head, 

 thorax, body beneath, and legs, bright metallic green: 

 bibens. Elytra reddish-brown, each with two short, 

 oblique, whitish bars; head and thorax greenish-black: 

 piger. T. affinis is much like piger but more shining and 

 separated on technical characters. 



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