28 NEW ZEALAND ENTOMOLOGY. 



Family MELOLONTHID^E. 



Pyronota f estiva. 



This brilliant little insect is extremely abundant amongst 

 manuka, during the early summer. In general appearance 

 it reminds one of a miniature specimen of the last species, 

 but is more elongate in form ; the green thorax and elytra 

 are also much brighter. The latter are bordered with 

 flashing crimson, the legs and under surface being reddish- 

 brown, sparsely clothed with white hairs. A small La- 

 mellicorn grub, found amongst refuse in manuka thickets, 

 is probably the larva of this insect ; it is less thickened 

 posteriorly than that of 5. suturalis, but otherwise closely 

 resembles it. The perfect insect is diurnal in its habits, 

 flying round flowering manuka in countless numbers on a 

 hot day. The descent of thirty or forty of these little 

 beetles on to the beating sheet, out of a single bush, is of 

 frequent occurrence, and is particularly noticed by the New 

 Zealand entomologist accustomed to the meagre supply of 

 specimens offered in the majority of instances. 



Group STERNOXI. 

 Family ELATERID.E. 



Thoramus wakefieldi (Plate II., fig. i, ib larva, la pupa). 



This fine beetle may be taken under rimu bark in 

 tolerable abundance, and is often observed flying about at 

 dusk during the summer. Its larva inhabits rotten wood, 

 usually selecting the red pine, in which it excavates numerous 

 flat galleries near the surface of the logs. When disturbed 

 it is very sluggish, the head being immediately withdrawn 

 into the large thoracic segment and completely concealed. 

 The legs are very minute, and are of but little use in walking, 

 the insect being chiefly dependent for locomotion on its 

 large anal proleg, which is furnished with numerous horny 

 spines. When full-grown this larva closes up one end of 



