510 " COLEOPTERA. 



metallic greenish beetle, found in abundance on leaves south- 

 ward. Tlie larva of Chlamys plwata Olivier, according to 

 Mr. S. H. Scudder, who has reared it from the sweet-fern, is a 

 sac bearer, drawing after it a rounded, flask-shaped, blackish 

 sac, within which it withdraws when disturbed. Larvae appar- 

 ently belonging to this species were found by Mr. Emerton on 

 grass in pastures in July. They are interesting as being true 

 sac-bearers, recalling Psyche helix and other sac-bearing moths, 

 and the Phryganeids. Fig. 507 represents the larva in the act 

 of walking, the head and thoracic segments protruding from 

 the case. The case is a quarter of an inch long and one-half 

 as thick, being oval cj-lindrical. It is 

 black and appears to be formed of 

 little pellets of vegetable matter 

 chewed by the larva and applied to the 

 edge, with a seam along the middle of 

 the under side, which readily spreads open when the sac is 

 pressed. Tlie case is a little contracted before the mouth, 

 where the pellets are a little larger than elsewhere. The larva 

 is of the form of those of others of the family, but the body is 

 slenderer in front of the abdomen, and the legs are longer 

 than usual. The abdomen is suddenly thickened and curved 

 at right angles, the tip being rather pointed. The body is 

 white, with a brown-black head and dark brown legs, and a 

 prothoracic corneous piece, with a corneous piece at the inser- 

 tion of each leg. It is, in its natural curved posture, .25 of 

 an inch long. In the Museum of the Peabody Academy are 

 several minute chalcid parasites reared from C. plicata. 



Cryptocephalus is a short, cylindrical genus, numbering nearly 

 800 species. 



Erotylid.k Westwood. This family is very largely devel- 

 oped in tropical America, and is known by the large, flattened 

 antennal club, which consists of three joints. Most of them 

 are supposed to be leaf insects, while the more northern spe- 

 cies live in fungi. 



ExDOMYCiiiD.i': Leach. In this small group are genera whose 

 bodies are oval, with antennae longer than the head, which with 



