22 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



browed, applied to those persons who are remarkable for the 

 prominence of their brows. Moreover, the legs of these beetles, 

 particularly the first pair, are fitted for digging, being deeply 

 notched, or furnished with several strong teeth on the outer 

 edges ; and the feet are five-jointed. This very extensive family 

 of insects is subdivided into several smaller groups, each com- 

 posed of beetles distinguished by various peculiarities of structure 

 and habits. Some live mostly upon or beneath the surface of the 

 earth, and were, therefore, called ground-beetles by De Geer ; 

 some, in their winged state are found on trees, the leaves of 

 which they devour ; they are the tree-beetles of the same author ; 

 and others, during the same period of their lives, frequent flowers, 

 and are called flower-beetles. The ground-beetles, including the 

 earth-borers (Geotrupidce), and dung-beetles (Copridida and 

 Jlphodiada.), which, in all their states, are found in excrement, 

 the skin-beetles (Trogidte), which inhabit dried animal sub- 

 stances, and the gigantic Hercules-beetles (Dynastidce), which 

 live in rotten wood or beneath old dung-heaps, must be passed 

 over without further comment. The other groups contain insects 

 that are very injurious to vegetation, and therefore require to be 

 more particularly noticed. 



One of the most common, and the most beautiful of the tree- 

 beetles of this country is the Arcoda lanigcra, or woolly Areoda, 

 sometimes also called the goldsmith-beetle. It is about nine 

 tenths of an inch in length, broad oval in shape, of a lemon-yellow 

 color above, glittering like burnished gold on the top of the head 

 and thorax ; the under-side of the body is copper-colored, and 

 thickly covered with whitish wool ; and the legs are brownish- 

 yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. These fine beetles begin 

 to appear in Massachusetts about the middle of May, and continue 

 generally till the twentieth of June. In the morning and evening 

 twilight they come forth from their retreats, and fly about with a 

 humming and rustling sound among the branches of trees, the 

 tender leaves of which they devour. Pear-trees are particularly 

 subject to their attacks, but the elm, hickory, poplar, oak, and 

 probably also other kinds of trees are frequented and injured by 

 them. During the middle of the day they remain at rest upon 

 the trees, clinging to the under-sides of the leaves ; and endeavour 



