

107 



swelling on the last segment. The)' appear to feed chiefly on the- 

 decaying roots of different trees, and so far as known are not injurious- 

 to vegetation. 



The beetle which is found throughout the State, but more abund- 

 antly in the central than in the southern part, flies and feeds by day r 

 and is most generally found in July and August. It attacks the 

 foliage of the grape-vines, upon which it chiefly subsists; the Vir- 

 ginia creeper, which, according to Prof. Riley, is eaten by it, being 

 the only other plant which it touches, so far as known. 



Although so universally distributed, it usually occurs in such lim- 

 ited numbers that the injury it inflicts is small. Being day feeders,, 

 of large size and rather slow in their movements, they can easily be 

 gathered and destroyed when they appear in sufficient numbers to- 

 threaten serious injury to the vines, and as this is a specific, it is use- 

 less to seek for or try any other. 



Spec. Char. Imago.— Claws simple, not cleft, but one larger and stouter 

 than the other ; antennas as in the preceding species ; clypeus not dis- 

 tinct from the front, there being no transverse indented line separat- 

 ing the two. The front of the head, the broad, flat face, is usually 

 bronzed, while the posterior part is greenish, with a coppery lustre ;. 

 the middle portions sometimes colored as the thorax, which is of a 

 brownish-yellow or clay color, and is marked with a black dot on each 

 side. The elytra are colored as the thorax, and each case is marked 

 with three black dots, which are arranged nearly in a longitudinal 

 line on the outer half ; the scutellum is green. The claws are unequal 

 in size, but none are notched or cleft as in anomala. This beetle is 

 large, oval shaped, about one inch long and half an inch or more in 

 width, of a shining brownish-yellow or clay color, and deep bronzed or 

 blackish-green beneath. Common throughout the State. 

 Family CETONIID^S. 



Very closely related to the last family are certain, usually bright, 

 metalic colored beetles, which, from certain structural differences of 

 comparatively minor importance, have been brought together under 

 the above family name; the antennas have a club at the end similar 

 to that of the previous family ; all the claws of the feet are simple and 

 equal, neither split nor unequal in size; the anterior coxas conical and 

 prominent ; scutellum usually triangular and pointed, though in one 

 genus it is not visible, being covered by a posterior extension of the 

 thorax. In the two genera mentioned here the thorax is somewhat 

 triangular, narrowed in front and nearly or quite as wide behind as 

 the elytra. Antennas with a lamellated club. 



GYNMETIS (ALLORHINA) NITIDA — Lillll. 



[Fig 10.] 



zf a ^sjo-' "^ b ■ 



Gymnetis (Allorhina) nitida. Linn.-a, larva ; b, pupa : e, male beetle; d, e, f, g, mandible, 

 antenna, leg and maxillary palpus Ol larva. 



