297 



ture, the larva is found fully grown during the autumn months. With 

 the approach of cold weather it works deeper into the ground, but in 

 the spring will frequently be found near the surface or under stones 

 and other similar objects, where it forms a sort of cell Id which to pu- 

 pate. In confinement the pupa state has lasted from two to four weeks. 

 The perfect beetle issues in the New England States about the second 

 week of June, while in the latitude of Washington it is seen about two 

 weeks earlier. It appears suddenly in great numbers, as has often 

 been observed and commented upon, but this is in conformity with the 

 habits of other Lamellicorn beetles, e. g., our common May-beetles {Lack- 

 nosterna), and this habit is still more marked in certain species of 

 Hoplia and Serica. It remains active a little over a month, and then 

 soon disappears. The species produces, therefore, but one annual gen- 

 eration, the time of the appearing of the beetle in greatest abundance, 

 being coincident with the flowering of the grape-vine. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The species is recorded by Dr. Horn (Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 1876) as 

 occurring from Virginia to Colorado and northward. It is thus not 

 represented in the extreme South and West of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Northward it extends into Maine, and Canada, and Minnesota. It is 

 certainly absent, or at least very scarce in western Kansas, though com- 

 mon and destructive in the eastern and more wooded portions of the 

 State. 



Professor Osborn finds the beetle not particularly destructive in 

 Iowa, and our experience shows that as a rule it is less destructive in 

 the Mississippi Valley than in the East. There are, however, numerous 

 specimens marked " Texas " in the collection of the late Mr. Belfrage. 

 Even in the Eastern States the insect is, in certain more or less re- 

 stricted areas, rare or absent for reasons which are more or less obscure, 

 but which find readiest explanation in the fact that certain moist and 

 open areas or bottom lands, especially of a sandy character, are the 

 preferred breeding places. Thus Dr. Fitch (2d liep., p. 247) states that 

 in the vicinity of his residence in New York State he took only 

 occasionally a specimen duriug twenty-five years, and Dr. Lintner men- 

 tions (1st New York Kep., pp. 230, 231) a similar case of local exemp- 

 tion. Harris states that M. suhspinosus, although common in the vicin- 

 ity of Boston, is, or was a few years ago, unknown in the northern and 

 western parts of Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, and in Maine. 

 Since the species is now common in parts of New Hampshire and very 

 generally over the whole of the State of Massachusetts, it would aiDpear 

 that the species has of late years extended its range. 



In the Gulf States it is replaced by a closely allied species, M. angus- 

 tatus Beauv., which has not yet proved to be injurious and is in all 

 probability less abundant. A third species, M. uniformis Horn, occurs 



