COLEOPTERA. 35 



oblong oval form, somewhat flattciuxl above, and often ])ril- 

 llantly colored and highly polished, sometimes also covered 

 with hairs. Most of the bright-colored kinds are day-fliers; 

 those of dark and plain tints are generally noctnrnal beetles. 

 Some of them are of immense size, and have been styled the 

 princes of the beetle tribes; such are the Incas of South 

 America, and the Goliah beetle [Hegemon Goliatiis) of Guinea, 

 the latter being more than four inches long, two inches broad, 

 and thick and heavy in proportion. 



Two American Cetonians must suffice as examples in this 

 group. The first is the Indian Cetonia, Cetonia Inda* one 

 of our earliest visitors in the spring, making its appearance 

 towards the end of April or the beginning of May, when it 

 may sometimes be seen in considerable numbers around the 

 borders of woods, and in dry open fields, flying just above the 

 grass with a loud humming sound, like a humble-bee, for which 

 perhaps it might at first sight be mistaken. Like other insects of 

 the same genus, it has a broad body, very obtuse behind, with 

 a triangular thorax, and a little wedge-shaped piece on each 

 side between the hinder angles of the thorax and the shoulders 

 of the wing-covers ; the latter, taken together, form an oblong 

 square, but are somewhat notched or widely scalloped on the 

 middle of the outer edges. The head and thorax of this beetle 

 are dark copper-brown, or almost black, and thickly covered 

 with short greenish yellow hairs; the wing-cases are light 

 yellowish brown, but changeable, with pearly and metallic 

 tints, and spattered with numerous irregular black spots ; the 

 under side of the body, which is very hairy, is of a black color, 

 with the edges of the rings and the legs duU red. It measures 

 about six tenths of an inch in length. During the summer 

 months the Indian Cetonia is not seen; but about the middle 

 of September a new brood comes forth, the beetles appearing 

 fresh and bright, as though they had just completed their last 

 transformation. At this time they may be found on the flow^ers 

 of the golden-rod, eating the pollen, and also in great numbers 

 on corn-stalks, and on the trunks of the locust-tree, feeding 



* Scarabceus Indus of Linnccus, Cetonia barbata of Say. 



