BEETLES. 39 



This extensive group includes the Cockchafers, which are 

 among the most destructive of insects in all their stages. The 

 larvae are whitish grubs, which live, doubled up, under ground, 

 where they feed upon the roots of plants, and the beetles feed 

 on plants in the open air. The Common Cockchafer (Melolontha 

 Vulgaris, Linn.) is about an inch long, and is a reddish-brown 

 insect, dusted with white in the male, and the under surface is 

 banded with black and white. The thorax is black, with a slight 

 greenish shade. The larva takes three years to arrive at 

 maturity. Rhizotrogus Solstitialis, Linn., is a more local insect, but 

 equally abundant where it occurs ; it is of a lighter brown, about 

 half an inch long, and the scutellum and under surface are very 

 hairy. Both these insects feed on leaves, and fly round trees in 

 swarms in the evening. 



Most of the European species are blackish or brownish ; one 

 of the best known is Polyphylla Fullo, Linn., a local insect on 

 the Continent, which has been reputed British. Its larva 

 feeds on the roots of grass in sandy places, and the perfect 

 insect feeds on the leaves of fir and other trees. The beetle, 

 which measures nearly an inch and a quarter in length, is shining 

 black or brown, with the thorax and elytra varied with white. 

 Some of the smaller species of the genus Hoplia, 111., which 

 measure about one-third of an inch in length, are very pretty, 

 being of a pale silvery blue or greenish colour. 



Many of the foreign species much resemble the European, 

 though sometimes considerably surpassing them in size. They are 

 often marked with a whitish spot near the tip of each of the elytra, 

 as in Lepidiota Bimacolata, Saund., a common East Indian species. 



SUB-FAMILY VIII. Euchirina. 



Antennae ten-jointed ; club three-jointed; front tibiae of the 

 males very long, and clothed with hair on the inside. 



This group includes but two genera : Euchirus, Kirb., which 

 inhabits the East Indies, and Propomacrus, Newm., from Turkey 

 and Asia Minor. Propomacrus Bimucronatus, Pall., is a pitchy- 

 black species, with dark-brown elytra, and the whole thorax is 

 clothed with reddish-yellow silky hair. This insect measures 

 nearly an inch and a half in length. Euchirus Madeayi, Hope, 

 from Assam, is of a bronzy-green colour, with reddish spots, and 

 measures two inches in length. 



