THE ROSE BEETLE. 109 



larva state^ but on reaching their mature condition 

 disdain the coarse vegetable food which contents that 

 sober insect, and like the butterflies, which they rival 

 in beauty, revel in the sweet and delicate juices to be 

 found in flowers. To adapt them to this diet, their 

 mandibles and maxiUse are of a slight and somewhat 

 membranous texture, and furnished with delicate 

 fringes of hairs, by means of which they are enabled 

 easily to lap-up the fluids which constitute their 

 aliment. Of these flower-loving species we have but 

 few in this country, but one of the most beautiful of 

 these is an exceedingly abundant insect, at all events 

 in the southern parts of the island. This is the 

 Cetonia aurata, commonly known as the Rose Beetle, 

 from its frequently occurring upon roses in gardens. 

 It is rather less than an inch in length, and of a 

 brilliant golden green colour, with the lower surface 

 rather coppery; the elytra are marked with several 

 transverse whitish streaks of a somewhat irregidar 

 form, looking as though the surface had been cracked, 

 and the crevices filled up with some white substance. 

 The Rose Beetle flies vdth great ease, and may often 

 be seen whirling round flowers in the hot sunshine; 

 its larva lives in the ground, and feeds like that of the 

 Cockchafer upon the roots of plants, to which it 

 sometimes does considerable injury. This larva has 

 also been met with in ants^ nests, where its presence 

 appears at all events to be tolerated by those insects, 

 although the nature of its connexion with them is 

 quite unknown. The larvae of some of the nearly 

 allied species live in rotten wood. 



There are still a good many species of this group 

 which, like the Sjjhcsridia and many Histers, pass the 

 greater part of their existence in the dung of the 



