PACKARD.] 



TRANSFORMATIONS OF PLEOTOMUS FALLENS. 



805 



the interspaces with scattered puuctures. On the head between the 

 eyes are five yellow spots; two simple dots, two long^ spots on the 

 orbits, sending two projections ontward, and a line in front sending 

 three projections upward. Two unequal yellow spots under the eyes. 

 Labrum and labium yellow. Five orange-yellow spots on each side of 

 the end of the abdomen beneath. Length, 0.84 inch. 



DiCERCA PROLONGATA Le Conte. (Plate LXX, Fig. 13.) 



" Coppery gray, often pruinose ; width of thorax twice its length, sides 

 well rounded in front, behind somewhat sinuous, punctate, furrowed, 

 each side with an oblique, deeply-impressed line; wing-covers with 

 deeplj -impressed linos ; apex rounded, the wing-covers scarcely divari- 

 cate. Length, 0.77-0.85 inch."— (Le Conte.) 



Melanophila drummondi Kir- 

 by. (Plate LXX, Fig. 14.) 



Body densely punctured, sha- 

 greened ; shining, reflecting me- 

 tallic colors, especially on the 

 prothorax, with three bright yel- 

 low spots on the posterior two- 

 thirds of each wing-cover, the 

 anterior spot being the larger. 

 Length, 0.40 inch. 



The Girdler, Oncideres cingu- 

 latus Say. (Fig. 07.) 



Although this beetle is not 

 known to inhabit Colorado or the 

 Rocky Mountains,! have thought 

 it well to introduce the following 

 figure received from Prof. I. S. 

 Haldeman, of Chickies, Pa., as 

 illustrating its mode of cutting 

 off hickory branches. Professor 

 Haldeman's account is given at 

 length in the " Guide to the Study 

 of Insects", p. 498. 



Fig. 67. — Work of the Girdler Beetle. 



INSECTS NOT SPECIALLY INJURIOUS. 

 The Transformations of Pleotomus fallens Le Conte. 



It is not improbable that this insect in its early stage as a larva is 

 beneficial to vegetation, since so far as known the young of our fire-flies 

 devour worms, other larva, and snails, but the individuals of this species 

 are so rare, that they probably exert but a slight influence for good or evil, 

 agriculturally speaking. I have received three specimens of this larva 

 from Texas through Mr. G. W. Belfrage, on whose authority solely the 

 above determination is given. For a specimen of the male, and of the 

 exceedingly rare female, I am indebted to the kindness of G. D. Smith, 

 esq., of Boston, who loaned them for the purpose of being drawn. 



The larva is unsually long and narrow, and much flattened. The pro- 



