18G9.] RITCHIE — COLEOPTERA OF MONTREAL. 31 



destructive to furs, aud to preserved specimens of natural history. 



The Bi/rrhidae, or pill beetles, are of an oval shape, and are 

 found in excrement, also under stones and bark. They possess 

 the faculty of drawing up the legs close to the body as in His- 

 teridae, and they remain in this way perfectly quiet as if dead. 



The Lucanidae, or stag beetles, come next. They are entirely 

 vegetable feeders ; the large species feed mostly on leaves, the 

 smaller on leaves and sap. Some of our largest Canadian beetles 

 belong to this family, as for instance, Passahis cornutus, Lucaniis 

 dama, and Lucanus placidns. Neither of these species are found 

 on the Island of Montreal. They are plentiful in Ontario, 

 flying about oak trees. The smaller species, Plafi/ccrus qacrcus 

 and P. depresses, are found near the city. 



Next come the Scarabaeidae, a very large group, which feed 

 on almost every thing. Some authors divide this family into, 1st, 

 the ground or true Scarabs, which feed on excrement, 2ndly, tlie 

 chafers and rose beetles, which live on leaves, flowers and sap. 

 The Hermit Beetle, Osmoderma, belongs to this group. 



The two following families, Bitprestidae and Elateridae, are 

 well represented on the Island. Some of the exotic species are 

 adorned with splendid metallic tints. The Brazilian Buprestidae 

 are gorgeous insects, their wing cases or elytra being very hard. 

 A great many are mounted and sold for breast pins and for other 

 articles of jewellery. A little black insect, about three quarters 

 of an inch long (^Melanoplilla Longipes), belongs to this family. 

 In the warm days of summer it runs about the side-walk, and 

 flies at intervals, alighting generally on the neck, where it bites 

 very keenly, the bite leaving a feeling as if the flesh was burnt 

 with hot sealing wax. The large Elater, Alaus oculatus, has 

 rarely been found here ; one I picked up on the side-walk on St. 

 Paul St. ; — the other was captured on a tree on St. Helen's 

 Island last summer, on the occasion of the field meeting of the 

 Natural History Society. 



The ftimily Lampijrldae includes the fire flies, a group well 

 represented in the district in question. They occur in great 

 numbers in the early summer, aud feed on the mucus of the birch 

 trees on the mountain. 



Cleridae is the next family ; it is composed of insects of small 

 size, which are parasitic in their larval state on bees, and in bees 

 and ants' nests. In their imago or perfect state they are found 

 on flowers. 



