76 



3Iississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



The Goldsmith Beetle. Cotnlpa lanigera, Linn. 



Order Coleoptera, Family Scarabseidse. 



This beetle is also a white grub in the larval stage, distinguished from the 

 preceding only by trivial characters, but widely different as an adult. The 

 beetle is aboul of the same size as the common "June bug," bright yellow- 

 above, with a golden metallic luster on the head and thorax, while the un- 



rig. 17. Goldsmith Beetle (Cotalpa 

 laivgera, Linn): .\dult. After Packard. 



der side of the body is copper colored and densely covered with long white 

 hairs. The life history of this species is almost identical with that of the 

 true white grub, and the beetle feeds, like the June beetle, upon the leaves of 

 a variety of fruit and forest trees. It also appears at about the same time of 

 the year, namely, in May and June. For practical purposes, consequently, 

 these two insects may be treated as one. 



The following comparative description of the larva of the goldsmith beetle 

 is quoted from Prof. Packard: — 



Fig. IS. Goldsmith Beetle (Cotalpa lanigera, 

 Linn): Larva. After Packard. 



" L-^irva.— The larvte are whitish grubs, about one inch and three-quarters 

 long and over half an inch thick, with a yellowish brown scale on the part cor- 

 responding to the thorax It so nearly resembles the young of the May beetle 

 that it requires a close examination to tell them apart The proportions of 

 the two are much the same; if anything, the Cotalpa is slightly shorter and 

 thicker, and its body is covered with short stiff hair, especially at the end, 

 \vhile in the May beetle the hairs are much finer, sparse, and the skin is con- 

 sequently shiny. They a'so differ in the head, it being fuller, more rounded 

 in Cotalpa, the clypeus shorter and very convex, while in the May beetle it is 



