THE ROSE BEETLE. 109 



larva state, but on reaching their mature condition 



disdain the coarse vegetable food which contents that 



sober insect, and like the butterflies, which they rival 



in beauty, revel in the sweet and delicate juices to be 



found in flowers. To adapt them to this diet, their 



mandibles and maxillae are of a slight and somewhat 



membranous texture, and furnished with delicate 



fringes of hairs, by means of which they are enabled 



easily to lap-up the fluids which constitute their 



aliment. Of these flower-loving species we have but 



few in this country, but one of the most beautiful of 



these is an exceedingly abundant insect, at all events 



in the southern parts of the island. This is the 



Cetonia aurata, commonly known as the Rose Beetle, 



from its frequently occurring upon roses in gardens. 



It is rather less than an inch in length, and of a 



brilliant golden green colour, with the lower surface 



rather coppery; the elytra are marked with several 



transverse whitish streaks of a somewhat irregular 



form, looking as though the surface had been cracked, 



and the crevices filled up with some white substance. 



The Rose Beetle flies with great ease, and may often 



be seen whirling round flowers in the hot sunshine ; 



its larva lives in the ground, and feeds like that of the 



Cockchafer upon the roots of plants, to which it 



sometimes does considerable injury. This larva has 



also been met with in ants^ nests, where its presence 



appears at all events to be tolerated by those insects, 



although the nature of its connexion with them is 



quite unknown. The larvae of some of the nearly 



allied species live in rotten wood. 



There are still a good many species of this group 

 which, like the Sphteridia and many Histers, pass the 

 greater part of their existence in the dung of the 



