SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 187 



of the body. They eat also the integuments of stuffed specimens, 

 doing great injury. Boxes and drawers should be tight enough to 

 keep them out, or it may be done with camphor or benzine in a 

 sponge or in cotton. Collections which are much infected should 

 be baked. 



Byrrhus, which is short, thick convex, is found under stems and 

 on leaves. When disturbed it counterfeits death. Larva long, 

 narrow, oblong. By the small group of Byrrhidae we pass to one 

 of immense extent, and of great importance to agriculturists from 

 the great injury they do as leaf-eaters. 



Scarabeidoe, or Lamellicornes, are distinguished by their lamel- 

 lated antennae, short broad, thick convex form ; their legs are 

 flattened, and toothed for the purpose of digging. The tip of the 

 abdomen is generally exposed. The males are often armed with 

 horns on the clypeus. Colors black, dull or shiny, coppery or gaily 

 ornamented. Among them occur tropical insects, such as the Go- 

 liath beetles, which are the largest of insects. Lucanus has immense 

 jaws ; in the males they are like deer's horns. The larva forms a 

 cocoon of the chips it has made in boring into decaying trees. The 

 larvae are thick, cylindrical, soft fleshy grubs, the abdomen in- 

 curved, so that the grub lays on its side, the legs being short and 

 weak. They live several years. 



Aphodius is a small semicylindrical genus, flying about ordure in 

 springs of similar habits is Geotrupes, a large green or purplish 

 colored genus. Copris, called Tumble Dungs, enclose their eggs 

 in pellets of excrement. 



Melolontha and allies are leaf eaters, which have long-clawed 

 legs to cling on to leaves, where they are found early in summer. 

 Their larvae eat the roots of grass, and before "transforming, form 

 oval earthern cocoons. Macrodactylus, the Rose beetle, is found 

 on roses and rhubarb blossoms in gardens. 



Lachnosterna, the June bug, does much injury to apple and 

 cherry trees. The males fly in evening in search of the other sex. 

 The large grubs are turned up abundantly in spring, in gardens. 

 Skunks feed upon them, and smaller species are eaten by toads, 

 indeed many rare species of beetles have been found in the stom- 

 ach of toads and insectivorous birds. 



Buprestidce. Beetles, with elongate, flattened, very solid bodies, 

 often angulated, the antennae slender and serrated, legs short. 

 The head is received into the excavated prothorax. Colors bril- 



