1911 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45 



BEETLES FOUND ABOUT FOLIAGE. 

 F. J. A. MoRKis, TuiNiTY College School, Port Hope. 



During my five years or more of collecting, I have captured, on and about 

 foliage, species belonging to eight or ten of the great families of beetles. Some of 

 these have been merely incidental and I know of nothing in their habits to connect 

 them witli the tree or lierbaceous plant on which I found them. For instance, there 

 is a species of Lagriid, a family closely related to the Tenebrionidae or Darkling 

 Beetles, which I have often taken on ioliage—Arthromacra cenea; usually the beetle 

 is found feeding in blossoms of the dogwood, occasionally on the foliage of that 

 shrub, but quite often I have seen it on the leaves of the May-apple (Podophyllum 

 peltatum), the New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) , and the Sweet Fern 

 (Coinptonia aspIenifoUa) ; it appears to have a special fondness for this last shrub 

 and on bright, hot days of July is often abundant in patches of Sweet Fern. 



So far as I know it does not eat the leaves, but contrary to the general habit 

 of the Tenebrionids it certainly courts bright sunshine. There is an allied genus 

 in Great Britain {Lagria hirta) said to be found on blossoms and in hedges, which 

 even in the larval stage is remarkable for its habit of wandering openly about foliage. 

 Most of the Tenebrionid larvae feed obscurely on vegetable matter, preferably in 

 a dry condition; probably the best known, in domestic economy, is Tenehrio moUtor, 

 the famous meal-worm, which I have occasionally had served to me at breakfast in 

 ;i plate of porridge. 



There are three families of beetle in particular, many of whose members are 

 ^'.vtI•elnelJ fond of sunshine. The Elaters or Click Beetles, their next of kin, the 

 Buprestids or Metallic Wood-borers, and the Cerambycidas or Long-horns. 



I have often captured some of the smaller species of Elaters, chiefly of the 

 genus Corymbites, resting on the upper side of leaves, apparently indulging in the 

 luxury of a sun-bath. Early in May two seasons ago I took a magnificent specimen 

 of Biiprestis striata basking on the tip of a branch of white pine, and in August of 

 the same year I saw darting about in the mid-day heat and settling from time to 

 time on the foliage of a spruce the gorgeous little Buprestid, Chrysohothris harrisii. 

 This dazzling vision in peacock blue was vouchsafed to me for a moment only and 

 then withdrawn, but in my mind's eye I have been " following the gleam " ever 

 since. Altogether that proved a red-letter day in my calendar, for I captured on the 

 trunk of a newly-felled balsam fir at the same spot my sole specimen of Monohammus 

 marmorator. 



A great many of the Cerambycidse or Long-horns are fond of this sun-basking ; 

 and I have made occasional captures on foliage of species that usually seek the 

 shade : once a specimen of Callidinm antennatum on a blade of grass by the road- 

 side, and once a fine specimen of Calloides nohilis on a stalk of sedge by the rail- 

 way track. But of those that are active by day, many of them feeding in blossoms, 

 I have found many species on leaves, especially of the two tribes Clytini and 

 Lepturini; in one or two cases, the insect seems to prefer one foliage to all others 

 and perhaps such captures ought not to be regarded as merely incidental: for 

 instance, I have found ChjtantJi.us rnricnla show a decided preference for the leaves 

 of the thimbleberry, though it does not often feed in the blossom of this plant. 



The capture I look back upon with greatest pride was that of a small speci- 

 men of Eupogonius svharmatus in my first seasx)n of collecting. I was going 

 through a belt of basswood on the look out for various things, but chiefly " "Walking 

 Sticks" and the larvae of Chryfiomela .«ralaris: by "Walking Sticks" I mean the 



