102 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OF HORTICULTURE. 



leathery in texture. The larvae live underground, and require two or 

 three years to complete their growth. They are very destructive to 

 sowed grain, root crops, meadow land and strawberries. 



The insects commonly called fireflies are not flies at all, but beetles 

 belonging to the family Lampyridse. Only a few species are luminous, 

 however, and these belong mainly to the genus Photinus. (See Fig. 91.) 



The soldier-bugs are diurnal members of this family, of the genera 

 Chauliognathus and Telephorus. T. bilineatus does much good in the 

 Eastern States, as it eats quantities of plum-curculio larvae. 



The family Cleridse are called "checker-beetles," or "flower-beetles," 

 from the conspicuous black, white or red checkered markings on the 

 body, and from their habit of living on flowers. The antennae are 

 serrate or slightly clubbed, and from the slenderness of the body and 

 their habits of running swiftly about they look decidedly ant-like. 

 With one exception, those of the genus Necrobia,the larvae are all pred- 

 atory on the larvae of wood-boring insects and in bees' nests. Necrobia 

 rufipes, the red-legged ham-beetle, lives on ham and other stored animal 

 products; but, on the whole, the family is a very useful one. 



The Ptinidse are nearly all injurious forms, living on dried vegetable 

 matter. They are small brownish beetles, with strange tastes in the 

 selection of foods. The drugstore-beetle (Sitrodrepa panicea) attacks 

 all sorts of drugs and herbs, many of them noxious and poisonous to 

 us. Lasioderma serricornea lives on tobacco in any form, and is called 

 the cigarette-beetle. Others are destructive to books and paper, or are 

 borers, such as the apple-twig borer. Certain species, belonging mainly 

 to the genus Aniobium, have gained the name of "death watches," on 

 account of their habit of rapping their heads against wood or some hard 

 object. 



Tribe Lamellicornia. 

 This tribe contains two families, the Lucanidae and the Scarabaeidae. 



The Lucanidae are rather rare, curiously formed beetles, with 

 elbowed, clubbed antennae, and large, often branched mandibles. From 

 the latter character they have received the name of stag-beetles. The 

 larvae are white grubs living in decaying wood, while the adults live 

 upon honey-dew, and on sap which flows from woun4s in trees. 



The Searabseidse is, numerically, a very large family, and its num- 

 bers vary greatly in shape, size, and feeding habits. They all have 

 antennae with a club at the tip composed of from three to seven lamellae, 

 and the fore tarsi are formed for digging. The larvae are white grubs, 

 which live in decaying vegetation or excrement, or in the ground on 



