THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE. 275 



]!^atiiralist (vol. ii, pp. 186, 441). He says that in the month of May in 

 the ordinary culture of his garden the spade has turned up this beetle 

 generally in company with the May beetle. He found that some of 

 the larvae, as in the case of the May beetle, assume the adult beetle 

 state in October and remain under ground for seven months before 

 appearing in the spring. 



Larva. — The larvae (fig. 107) he describes as "whitish grubs, about one inch and 

 three-quarters long and over half an inch thick, with a yellowish-brown scale on the 

 part corresponding to the thorax." I may add that it so nearly resembles the young 

 of the May beetle that it requires a close examination to tell them apart. The pro- 

 portions of the two are much the same ; if anything the Cotalpa is slightly shorter 

 nnd thicker, and its body is covered with short, stiif hair, especially at the end, while 

 in the May beetle the hairs are much finer, sparse, and the skin is consequently 

 shiny. They also difter in the head being fuller, more rounded in Cotalpa, the cly- 

 peus shorter and very convex, while in the May beetle it is flattened. The upper lip 

 (labrura) is in Cotalpa longer, more rounded in front and narrower at the base, and 

 full convex on the surface, while in the young May beetle it is flat. The antennae 

 are longer and larger in the goldsmith beetle, the second joint a little over half as 

 long as the third, while in the May beetle grub it is nearly three-quarters as long ; 

 the third joint is much longer than in the latter grub, while the fourth and fifth are 

 of the same relative length as in the May beetle, but much thicker. The jaws (man- 

 dibles) are much alike iu both, but not quite so acute in the Cotalpa as in the other, 

 nor are the inner teeth so prominent. The maxilla is much longer and with stouter 

 Spines, and the palpi are longer and slenderer in the grub of Cotalpa than in the 

 other, though the joints have the same relative proportion in each; the basal joint 

 is nearly twice as long as in the May beetle. The under lip (labium) is throughout 

 much longer, and the palpi, though two-jointed in each, are much longer and slen- 

 derer in the grub of Cotalpa than in that of the May beetle. The feet are much 

 larger and more hairy in the Cotalpa. Both larvae are about an inch and a half long, 

 and a third (.35) of an inch thick at the widest part. 



As regards the number of years in the life of this insect, Dr. Lock- 

 wood remarks : 



When collecting the larvae in May I often observed in the same places grubs of the 

 Cotalpa of at least four distinct ages, each representing a year in the life of the 

 insect, judging ^rom Kenny's figures of the larvae of the English cockchafer, or dor- 

 beetle {Melolontha vulgaris). But the cockchafer becomes an imago in January or 

 February, and comes forth into active life in May, just four years from the deposit of 

 the egg. Supposing our Cotalpa to take on the imago form in autumn, and to spend 

 its life from that time to the next May in the ground, it would be five years old when 

 it makes its d6but as an arboreal insect. 



It is possible that Dr. Lockwood may be in error regarding the age 

 of this beetle, as M. T. Eeiset says in France this insect is three years 

 in arriving at its perfect beetle state. The following remarks on the 

 habits of the European chafer may aid observers in this country in 

 studying the habits of our native species. M. Eeiset says (see " Cos- 

 mos " as translated in the American Naturalist, vol. ii, p. 209) : 



This beetle in the spring of 1865 defoliated the oaks and other trees, while immense 

 numbers of their larvae in the succeeding year, 1866, devoured to a fearful extent the 

 roots of garden vegetables, etc., at a loss to the department of the lower Seine of 

 over five millions of dollars. This insect is three years in arriving at its perfect 

 beetle state. The larvae, hatched from eggs laid by the beetles which appeared in 



