Phyllopertha.'] LAMELLICOKNIA. 55 



en nii-il, in which they change into pale-coloured pupa: ; these larva? are most destruc- 

 tive to turf; as Curtis remarks, by their consuming the roots the grass dies ; the dead 

 turf become* rotten, and will sink in patches under the feet, owing to the burrows 

 which the maeeots have made in tho earth ; and the rooks and starlings add to the 

 disorder by pulling up the turf to feed upon t hem ; they appear to continue in the 

 larval state for three years ; the remedies for their destruction appear to be much the 

 same as those adopted to get rid of Melolontha vulgaris ; as, however, tli larvas are 

 nn'iv tender than those of the latter insect, it is probable that external dressings of 

 gas liquor and salt water, or of lime, potash and other alkalies would have a greater 

 effect in destroying them.* 



P. horticola, L. Oblong, depressed, rather shining, pilose ; head 

 and thorax of a greenish or cyaneous colour, metallic, shining, elytra 

 reddish-testaceous, with suture, as a rule, usually darker ; head rugose 

 in front, antennae reddish \vith dark club ; thorax narrower than elytra, 

 transverse, narrowed in front, posterior angles prominent, disc coarsely 

 punctured ; scutellum large, almost semicircular, dark, sparingly 

 punctured ; elytra rather strongly, but not deeply, punctured in some- 

 what irregular rows ; legs long, especially in the males ; under-side of 

 front parts villose. L. 7-10 mm. 



Male with the body more thickly pilose, and the exterior claw more 

 broadly dilated. 



On flowers, young trees, Ac. ; commonly and generally distributed throughout the 

 kingdom ; more abundant in some years than iu others ; occasionally quite black 

 specimens occur; small specimens are also rarely found in which the head and thorax 

 are black with a bluish tinge, and the elytra are light testaceous, with the margins 

 and suture black ; these belong to the var. tuturalis, Stephens ; there is an old 

 specimen of this variety in Dr. Power's collection, but this is the only one that I have 

 1MB, 



ANOIVIALA, Samouelle. 



This is a very extensive genus, and comprises upwards of three 

 hundred species, the majority of which are found in tropical countries; 

 they range however as far north as Siberia ; fourteen or fifteen species 

 inhabit Europe, of which one only is found in Britain ; they may be 

 known, from PkyUopertha by their much more convex shape and the 

 absence of a margin at the base of thorax, as well as by their glabrous, 

 or almost glabrous, upper surface; our single British species is very 

 variable in colour. 



A. Frischii, F. (amca, Do G.; Julii, Fab.,Gyll., Payk, &c.). Slightly 

 obovate, strongly convex, moderately shining, head and thorax greenish 

 aeneous or greenish, sometimes cyaneous, elytra reddish, or reddish-brown, 

 usually with a more or less distinct metallic reflection, sometimes entirely 

 ot a dark green metallic colour, concolorous with thorax ; very rarely the 

 elytra are cyaneous, and tin- head and thorax arc greenish, or the whole 



* It should perhaps be mentioned that this beetle is a good bait for trout, chub, 

 ami iithrr fish ; my earliest ('], -.interims reminiscence is tin- collection of n iiiiinU-r of 

 these " fern-webs" as a biiiall boy, in North Devon, for a relation who required them 

 for fulling. 



