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Pleocoma Fimbriata, Lee. 



That the species ofScarabaeidae are not numerous in California mav 

 partly be due to the long continued drouths, occuring annually, from the 

 end of May to about the lOth "of October, during which time the surface 

 is baked into more or less hardened crust through which the larger Sca- 

 Jabaeidae would find it very difficult to emerge. Polyphylla decemline ita 

 Say, frequenting the vicinity of large oak and other forest trees, and Am- 

 phicoma ursina Lee, breeding in the shifting sea-sands, avoid this difli- 

 culty, but it is in Pleocoma that we get the happy illustration of the old 

 proverb, that "all things come to him that waits". They wait until the 

 (irst autumnal showers soak the earth to the depth of four or six inches, 

 when they quickly emerge. Their flight is diurnal and of very short 

 duration, lasting a day or at most two days. Probably no single indivi- 

 dual remains on the surface more than a few hours and many disappear 

 again in the earth after a few minutes flight. In this lies their safet\-. 

 otherwise their size and awkwardness would render them an easy prev to 

 those omnivorous devils, the Steilars and California Jay.s> which are everv- 

 where abundant and always ready io gobble up a helpless insect, rob the 

 nests of other birds, or depredate the vineyard or cornfield. 



The locality where a brood o'i Pleocoma fwibriata was observed b\ 

 me in 1885, when I took three males, and again this autumn, when 

 about a dozen were secured, is a series of barren hills that are excessive- 

 ly rocky and overgrown by low, scrubby bushes; chief among them being 

 the common Manzanita, upon the roots of which I suspect the larvae 

 will be found to feed. The flight of the males is low and heavv, seldom 

 attaining a height of more than six or eight feet and their progress is 

 slow. AHghdng clumsily on a low bush and tumbling to the ground, 

 they at once hunt for a soft spot, commence to burrow and quicklv get 

 out of sight. All this applies to the males only, which are totally black 

 and shining. I have succeeded in capturing but one female, which i.s 

 brown and much more convex than the males and is without win<,'.<. 

 .She was found about four inches below the surface, with three males in 

 the same burrow, following her and fighting each other vigorously. 



The union of the sexes being, seemingly the only object of their ap- 

 pearance above ground, it is a quesdon wether the apterous females ever 

 entirely emerge, or perhaps only approach the surface, from below, 

 where the flying males discover them by some acute sense and dig down 

 to find their mates. However that may be, this much is certain that the 

 whole brood makes its appearance on the next day after the first soaking 

 showers in October. On the following day a few stragglers only will be 

 seen, and after that a single individual, — late and disappointed, — ma\ 

 be found, once in a long while, but the probabilities are greatly again.v 

 Entomologica Americana. 28 famiary 1887. 



