76 Psyche [June 



cerus asparagi visits the flowers of the cultivated asparagus, and 

 the larvse devour the vegetative organs; Chalepiis dorsaUs visits the 

 flowers of the black locust (Robinia) and the larvae mine the leaves ; 

 while both stages of the Colorado potato beetle are familiar on the 

 flowers and foliage of the potato. 



Both the New England list and Knuth's list for North America 

 contain only two species of the Bruchidse. This small family is 

 closely allied to the Chrysomelidse; but the larvae live in seeds, 

 chiefly those of leguminous plants, while the beetles occur on 

 foliage and occasionally on flowers. 



In accordance with their food habits the Scarabseidae are popu- 

 larly divided into two large, well-defined groups, the scavengers 

 and leaf -chafers. The scavengers are largely ground forms feeding 

 chiefly on dung, a few on fungi and a few on animal substances. 

 They seldom visit flowers, but on one occasion I captured the 

 common Aphodiiis fimetarius on the flowers of Spiroca salicifolia. 

 The leaf-chafers, or Melolonthinae, to which belong the genera 

 Hoplia, ISIacrodactylus and the nocturnal Lachnosterna, are 

 dystropous forms frequently defoliating shrubs and trees. Hosts 

 of rose-chafers (Macrodactyhis subspinosus) often strip rose bushes 

 and other shrubs of both flowers and leaves, or devour the blossoms 

 and ruin the crop of grapes. But Hoplia trifasciata "is almost 

 entirely a pollen feeder like Trichius piger and Euphoria inda,'"^ 

 and visits a great variety of flowers. The behavior of T. piger on 

 Iris versicolor has been described by Needham: "The species is not 

 ill-adapted by its size for visiting these flowers, and, should it pass 

 from flower to flower, it might be an important agent in pollen 

 distribution; but I have not seen one pass from flower to flower 

 directly and am inclined to think it rarely does so. It is little dis- 

 posed to flight and is much more at home clambering among the 

 thyrsoid clusters of Rhus and Ceanothus. Furthermore, on reach- 

 ing an Iris flower it is habitually deceived as to the point of 

 entrance and tries for some time to get in at its center, between 

 the branches of the cleft style." In warm regions the Cetonise 

 a:re important flower visitors, and Delpino formerly regarded them 

 as the chief pollinators of Magnolia. We have taken 11 species of 

 the Scarabseidae on flowers in New England, and Knuth lists only 



1 Morris, F. J. A.. "Beetles Found about Foliage," Can. Ent., Vol. 43, p. 115. 



