LAMELLICOBN BEETLES. 



231 



takes place, the bitter, or coarse and useless grasses disappear, 

 and are replaced by better kinds, so that the nature of the 

 pasturage is very greatly improved. On the face of the thing, 



1, Diluboderus abderus, male ; 2, female ; both magnified, with lines 

 showing natural length. 3, Lamellicorn larva, from ground infested by 

 D. abderus. 



it does not seem clear why this should be from the effects of the 

 damage caused by the infestation of the " horned beetle," the 

 Dilohoderus abderus. We know that others of the Dynastidae, as, 

 for instance, the so-called " Keever beetle," the IleUronychus 

 arator, Fab., do much mischief at the roots of wheat crops in 

 South Africa ; and the Pentodon nireiis, Burm, and P. contractus, 

 Bohm, both of them Caffrarian beetles, were also sent over to me 

 as wheat pests. But these destructive habits of the Dynastidse 

 scarcely seem to account for a different and a better kind of grass 

 following on the ravaged area, and it does not appear to be merely 

 a destruction of the grasses, then 2)rcsent, which is followed by 

 presence of a better sort, as amongst the notes sent from the 

 local representatives of the S. American Co. is the following :^ 

 ** Strange to say, the grub has done almost no damage on burnt 

 camp, the eggs having been probably destroyed by fire, so they 

 will take a much longer time to refine than camp which is never 

 burnt." 



This suggests whether it is not possible that some of the 

 damage, and much of the succeeding benefit may be owing to the 

 presence of the Scarabaeid beetles, of which specimens of two 

 lands were forwarded to me (but without any remarks on them) 

 in the bottle with the other beetles and larvte. These were the 

 large Eucranium arachnoides, Brulle (the Anomiojjsis dioscorides 

 of Westwood*), one of the so-called "Sacred beetles"; the other 

 (also figured at p. 229) is the MegatJurpa violacea, Blanchard, 

 found by M. d'Orbigny in Patagonia (D'Orbigny, ' Voyage dans 

 I'Amerique Meridionale, Insectes Coleopteres,' par Blanchard). 



Presumino; these beetles to have the characteristic habits of 



* ' Trans, of Zool. Soc' vol. ii., 1B57, p. 160. 



T 2 



