COLEOPTERA. 31 



sericea, the silky Omaloplia, closely resembles the preceding in 

 every thing but its color, which is a very deep chestnut-brown, 

 iridescent or changeable like satin, and reflecting the colors of the 

 rainbow. 



All these Melolonthians are nocturnal insects, never appearing, 

 except by accident, in the day, during which they remain under 

 shelter of the foliage of trees and shrubs, or concealed in the 

 grass. Others are truly day-fliers, committing their ravages by 

 the light of the sun, and are consequently exposed to observa- 

 tion. 



One of our diurnal Melolonthians is supposed by many natural- 

 ists to be the Anomala varians of Fabricius ; and it agrees very 

 well with this writer's description of the lucicola ; but Professor 

 Germar thinks it to be an undescribed species, and proposes to 

 name it ccelebs. It resembles the vine-chafer of Europe in its 

 habits, and is found in the months of June and July on the culti- 

 vated and wild grape-vines, the leaves of which it devours. Dur- 

 ing the same period, these chafers may be seen in still greater 

 numbers on various kinds of sumach, which they often completely 

 despoil of their leaves. They are of a broad oval shape, and very 

 variable in color. The head and thorax of the male are greenish- 

 black, margined with dull ochre or tile-red, and thickly punc- 

 tured ; the wing-covers are clay-yellow, irregularly furrowed, and 

 punctured in the furrows ; the legs are pale red, brown, or black. 

 The thorax of the female is clay-yellow, or tile-red, sometimes 

 with two oblique blackish spots on the top, and sometimes almost 

 entirely black ; the wing-covers resemble those of the male ; the 

 legs are clay-yellow, or light red. The males are sometimes en- 

 tirely black, and this variety seems to be the beetle called atrata, 

 by Fabricius. The males measure nearly, and the females rather 

 more than seven twentieths of an inch in length. In the year 

 1825, these insects appeared on the grape-vines in a garden in 

 this vicinity ; they have since established themselves on the spot, 

 and have so much multiplied in subsequent years as to prove ex- 

 ceedingly hurtful to the vines. In many other gardens they have 

 also appeared, having probably found the leaves of the cultivated 

 grape-vine more to their taste than their natural food. Should 

 these beetles increase in numbers, thev will be found as difficult 



