202 " [September, 



extended over an area of .some yards, though other stones revealed only 

 ants' nests, of three different species*, with not a trace of Cetonin. 

 Numbers of ants were found in the friable earth wdth the Cetonia, but 

 the larvae could not be said to be in the nests. Subsequently, further 

 colonies of the Cetonia were found, in each case under bouldere, and 

 usually with the ants also present. The larvae of Lacon murim(s were 

 also to be seen in considerable .numbers, and they were probably preying 

 upon the young Cetonia larvae. 



These notes obviously refer to quite different conditions from those 

 described by Mr. Hamui f and Mr. Donisthorpe J. These Scilly larvae 

 were certainly not feeding in rotten wood, but probably upon the roots 

 of the thrift and grass, or upon the dead vegetation that accumulates in 

 such situations. Formica rufa was not present, and though there were 

 the other ants mentioned, the beetle larvae were not in the nests and the 

 association maj/ not have been more than accidental. (It is also men- 

 tioned, be it noted, by Curtis, " Farm Insects," p. 108, but so accurate 

 an observer as Fabre does not allude to ants in connection with Cetonia. 

 According to this observer the beetle oviposited and the larvae fed in 

 heaps of rotten leaves.) The Scilly colony bore every appearance of 

 being a permanent one, containing successive broods year after year ; 

 at any rate, evidence of three different broods was found when the nest 

 w^as examined, viz., young larvae {prohahly from eggs laid this year) ; 

 full-grow^n larvae and pupae (no intermediate stages) ; empty, vacated 

 cocoons and fragments of dead beetles (?". e. of the brood now in evidence 

 that matured last summer). 



These observations, together with the accounts previously published 

 of this insect, seem to indicate that the life-history of the Eose Chafer 

 is somewhat as follows : — 



First year. — Eggs laid in early summer hatch and the larvae 

 hibernate fairly j^oung. 



Second year. — Larvae attain maturity, pupate, and beetles emerge 

 in August, though sometimes perhaps not leaving the cocoon until the 

 following spring. It may be that two years or more are spent by 

 the larvae before attaining maturity, but no evidence of intermediate 

 stages was discovered in the colonies observed by me. Mr. Hamm has 

 shown that some apparently fully-fed larvae in a brood may pass through 

 another winter before pupating, but the imagines from these will be out 

 with those that have hibernated as beetles. 



* Myrmi'a scabrinodis Nyl., Tetramorium caespitum L., and Lativsjlavus Fab. 

 t Ent. Mo. Mag. 1910, p. 137. 

 I Ent. Record, 1904, p. 301. 



