PACKARD.] THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE. 799 



beetle. His account was first published in the American Naturalist 

 (vol. ii, pp. 186, 441). He says that in the month of May in the ordinary 

 culture of his garden the spade has turned up this beetle generally in 

 company with the May beetle. He found that some of the beetles, as 

 in the case of the May beetle, assume the adult beetle state in October 

 and remain under-ground for seven mouths before appearing in the 

 spring. 



"Larva. — The larvae he describes as * whitish grubs, about one inch and three-quar- 

 ters long and over half an inch thick, with a yellowish-brown scale on the i)art cor- 

 responding to the thorax.' I may add that it so nearly resembles the young of the 

 May beetle that it requires a close examination to tell them apart. The proportions 

 of the two are much the same ; if anything the Cotalpa is slightly shorter and 

 thicker, and its body is covered with short, stilf hair, especially at the end, while 

 in the May beetle the hairs are much finer, sparse, and the skin is consequently shiny. 

 They also differ in the head, being fuller, more rounded in Cotalpa, the clypeus shorter 

 and very convex, while in the May beetle it is flattened. The upper lip (labrum) is in 

 Cotalpa longer, more rounded in front and narrower at the base, and full convex on the 

 surface, while in the young May beetle it is flat. The antennae are longer and larger 

 in the goldsmith beetle, the second joint a little over half as long as the third, while 

 in the May beetle grub it is nearly three-quarters as long ; the third joint is much 

 longer than in the latter grub, while the fourth and fifth are of the same relative 

 length as in the May beetle, but much thicker. The jaws (mandibles) are much alike 

 in both, but not quite so acute in the Cotalpa as in the other, nor are the inner teeth 

 so prominent. The maxilla is much longer and with stouter spines, and the palpi are 

 longer and slenderer in the grub of Cotalpa than in the other, though the joints have 

 the same relative proportion in each ; the basal joint is nearly twice as long as in the 

 May beetle. The under lip (labium) is throughout much longer, and the palpi, though 

 two-jointed in each, are much longer and slenderer in the grub of Cotalpa than in that 

 of the May beetle. The feet are much larger and more hairy in the Cotalpa. Both 

 larvjB are about an in<3h and a half long, and a third (.35) of an inch thick at the 

 widest part. 



"As regards the number of years in the life of this insect. Dr. Lockwood 

 retoarks that ' when collecting the larvse in May, I often observed in 

 the same places grubs of the Cotalpa of at least four distinct ages, each 

 representing a year in the life of the insect, judging from Kenny's 

 figures of the larvae of the English cockchafer, or dor beetle {Melolontha 

 vulgaris). But the cockchafer becomes an imago in January or February, 

 and comes forth into active life in May, just four years from the deposit 

 of the egg. Supposing our Cotalpa to take oil the imago form in 

 autumn, and to spend its life from that time to the next May in the 

 ground, it would be five years old when it makes its debut as an arbo- 

 real insect.' It is possible that Dr. Lockwood may be in error regard- 

 ing the age of this beetle, as M. T. Keiset says in France this insect is 

 three years in arriving at its perfect beetle state. The following remarks 

 on the habits of the European chafer may aid observers in this country 

 in studying the habits of our native species. M. Meiset says (see 

 'Cosmos' as translated in the American Naturalist, vol ii, p. 209) 

 ' that this beetle in the spring of 1865 defoliated the oaks and other 

 trees, while immense numbers of their larvae in the succeeding year, 

 1866, devoured to a fearful extent the roots of garden-vegetables, etc., 

 at a loss to the department of the Lower Seine of over five millions of 

 dollars. This insect is three years in arriving at its perfect beetle state. 

 The larvae, hatched from eggs laid by the beetles which appeared in 

 such numbers in 1865, passed a second winter, that of 1867, at a mean 

 depth in the soil of forty one-huudredths of a meter, or nearly a foot 

 and a half. The thermometer placed in the ground (which was covered 

 with snow) at this mean depth, never rose to thirty-two degrees F. as 

 minimum. Thus the larvae survived after being perfectly frozen (prob- 

 ably most subterranean larvae are thus frozen, and thaw out in the 

 spring at the approach of warm weather). In June, 1867, the grubs 



