THE INDIAN CETONTA : SUSPECTED INJURIES. 237 



fiw. 3'J, is frequently found in Illinois, boring into apples, and is repre- 

 sented as fond of eating into the flowers and fruits of a variety of 

 plants. 



Other Injuries by the Insect, 



Professor H. Osborn, of the State Agricultural College of Iowa, in 

 his Entomological Keport ior 1879, made to the State Horticultural 

 Society (pp. 85-107), 3'ecords a habit reported to him as recently ob- 

 served in this beetle, which has not been previously recorded, and 

 which will require verification befoi'e it can be accepted. The beetle 

 had been sent to him, with the statement that it had done much 

 damage to apple-trees by gnawing off the bark, and that one tree had 

 been entirely ruined. The portion of the branch which accompanied 

 the beetle was so badly damaged as to resemble the girdling done by 

 rabbits and mice. 



As Ave cannot accept the tearing open of the husks of the corn to 

 reach the tender kernels, by this flower-beetle, for like reasons it seems 

 far more probable, that the above injuries to the apple-trees had been 

 committed by some other depredator, and that the beetle found upon 

 the wounds had merely been drawn thither to feed upon the ooziny 

 sap. 



From the known habits of allied Cetonians, this species is, in all 

 probability, injurious in its grub or larval state to the roots of many 

 of our cultivated plants, but as its history has not as yet been worked 

 out, we remain ignorant of the nature and extent of its injuries. A 

 species nearly related to it, Allorliina nitida Linn,, has been noticed at 

 times as quite injurious to strawberries,* after the habit of the green 

 rose-chafer, Cetonia aurata, of Europe,f and there is little doubt but 

 that F. Inda will be hereafter found attacking the same plant. Al- 

 though Curtis distinctly states that C. aurata, in its grub state, lives 

 two or three years under ground, feeding on the roots of grass and 

 various phints and breeding amongst strawberry beds, yet it is questioned 

 by some of our writers whether injuries of serious amount are commit- 

 ted by these insects in their larval stage. The belief seems to be gainino- 

 ground that their food consists mainly of decaying vegetable matter. 

 Dr. Thomas is of the opinion that E. Inda breeds in decayed wood, as 

 the beetles may often be seen flying over chip-yards as if in search of 

 a place to deposit their eggs. J 



A Grass-feeding Larva of an Allied Species. 

 In corroboration of their grass-feeding habits, we have the interest- 

 ing account given us by Mr. L. 0. Howard, § of the remarkable occur- 



* American Entomologist, i, 1S60, p. 24G. 

 tCurtis' Farm Insects, ISfil, p. 107. 

 XFourth Ann. Kept. Ins. III., 1874, p. 01. 

 %CanaJian Entomologist, xi, 1879, p. 200. 



