COLEOrXERA. 91 



more or less over the face, like the visor or l)rim of a cap, and 

 beneath the sides of this visor the antennae are implanted. 

 Moreover, the legs of these beetles, particularly the first pair, 

 are fitted for digging, being deeply notched, or furnished with 

 several strong teeth on the outer edges; and the? feet are five- 

 jointed. This very extensive family of insects is subdivided 

 into several smaller groups, each composed of beetles distin- 

 guished by various peculiarities of structure and habits. Some 

 live mostly upon or beneath the surface of the earth, and were, 

 therefore, called ground-beetles by De Geer; some, in their 

 winged state, are found on trees, the leaves of which they 

 devour; they are the tree-beetles of the same author; and 

 others, during the same period of their lives, frequent ilowers, 

 and are called flower-beetles. The ground-beetles, including 

 the earth-borers (Gcotrupidce), and dung-beetles {Copridida: 

 and Aphodiada;), which, in all their states, are found in excre- 

 ment, the skin-beetles ( Trogidce), which inhabit dried animal 

 substances, and the gigantic Hercules-beetles {D//)iastidw), 

 which live in rotten wood or beneath old dung-heaps, must be 

 passed over without further comment. The other groups con- 

 tain insects that are very injurious to vegetation, and therefore 

 require to be more particularly noticed. 



One of the most common, and the most beautiful of the 

 tree-beetles of this country, is the Areoda lanigera, or woolly 

 Areoda, sometimes also called the goldsmith-beetle. It is 

 about nine tenths of an inch in length, broad oval in shape, of 

 a lemon-yellow color above, glittering like burnished gold on 

 the top of the head and thorax ; the under-side of the body is 

 copper-colored, and thickly covered with whitish wool; and 

 the legs are brownish yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. 

 These fine beetles begin to appear in Massachusetts about the 

 middle of May, and continue generally till the twentieth of 

 June. In the morning and evening twihght they come forth 

 from their retreats, and fly about with a humming and rustling 

 sound among the branches of trees, the tender leaves of which 

 they devour. Pear-trees are particularly subject to their attacks, 

 but the elm, hickory, poplar, oak, and probably also other kinds 

 of trees, are frequented and injured by them. During the 



