190 



INSECT CALENDAR. 



bylius fly, or fish in brooks and pools for water beetles and 

 various larvae of Neuroptera and Diptera; while many flies 

 and beetles are attracted to freshly cut maples or birches run- 

 ning with sap ; indeed, many insects, rarely found elsewhere, 

 assemble in quantities about the stumps of these trees, from 

 which the sap oozes in March and April. 



In April the injurious insects in the Northern States have 

 scarcely begun their work of destruction, as the buds do not 

 unfold before the fi»st of May. We give an account, however, 

 of some of the beneficial insects which are now to be found in 

 grass-lands and in gardens. The farmer should know his true 

 insect friends as well as his insect foes. Wc introduce to our 

 readers a large family of ground-beetles (Carabidae, from Cara- 



319. Calosoma scrutator. 



220. Calosoma calitluni and Larva. 



bus, the name of the typical genus) which prey on those insects 

 largely injurious to crops. A study of the figures will famil- 

 iarize our readers with the principal forms. They are dark- 

 coloi'ed, brown or black, with metallic hues, and are seen in 

 spring and throughout the summer, running in grass, or lurking 

 under stones and sticks in damp places, whence they sally forth 

 to hunt by night, when many vegetable-eating insects are most 

 active. 



The larvaj are found in much the same situations as tlse 

 m'ature beetles. They are elongate, oblong, and .rather broad, 

 the terminal ring of the body being armed with two horny 

 hooks, and having a single fleshy leg beneatli ; and are usually 

 black in color. The larva of Calosoma (C. calidum, i^ig. 220; a, 



