Cetosiid^e.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-GOLIATHUS. 



217 



{Phylluphci'ja qitercina), is very destructive, according 

 to Dr. Harris, to fruit-trees; and he mentions that they 

 have been exterminated by simply shaking tliera from 

 the trees every evening.* 



The " Rose-bug" of the United States {Macrodac- 

 tylus subapinosus) is another destructive species of this 

 family, so named from its appearing at the time of 

 the flowering of the rose, on which it commits great 

 ravages. It destroys, too, the grape vine and other 

 useful fruit trees, and even grass does not escape the 

 ravages of this ruthless depredator. The larvse live on 

 roots, and it is only in the perfect state that the farmer 

 or gardener can destroy it. 



Of all i\\e Melolontldd(s,i\i(i largest and most remark- 

 able belong to a section which by some authors has 

 been formed into a family named Euchiridcc The 

 type of this group is the great Euchtrus loiigimaniis, 

 from Amboyna, a brown beetle with very long fore 

 legs, of which Madame Pfeiffer obtained many speci- 

 mens. Another fine species lives in the Philippine 

 Islands ; it is the Euchirus Dupoiitiaiuis, marked with 

 four longitudinal lines. The females in Euchirus have 

 shorter fore legs. On Plate 2, fig. 5, is figured a very 

 fine beetle, closely allied to the Euchirus, and perhaps 

 in the same genus. The Rev. F. W. Hope, named it 

 Cheirolonits. The species, with its fine green thorax 

 and dark elytra spotted with yellow, is named C. 

 ^^acleayii. 



One of the commonest insects in the United Slatis 

 is a species of Phjllophaga. It is allied to our Cock- 

 chafer, and is named in Pennsylvania the May Bug. 

 Like our Chafer, its larva is at certain seasons most 

 destructive, damaging grass, corn, and other crops tn 

 an amazing extent. 



On the interesting family Gl-^piiviuu^e space 

 forbids me entering. K, 



F.4MILY— CETONIID.^. 



Our Rose beelles, Ccloiiia aurata, is a well-knox 

 example of this very extensive family, of which tin 

 are but six British species, and even of those recordr^ 

 two are very doubtful. The great Goliath Beclli 

 are natives chiefly of Western Africa, whence one ■ 

 two specimens were sent in the days of the Hunti i 

 and of Dr. Drury, the goldsmith in the Strand. I>i 

 William Hunter bought or had presented to him on 

 of these Goliath beetles, still a rare variety. It wa 

 said that fifty pounds sterling %vere given for a sinu 

 specimen. These Goliath beetles were found by Dr. 

 Savage on a tree, thirty or forty ftet high, and with 

 a trunk from six to eigli* feet in diameter. They 

 may be taken at Cape Palmas in great numbers in the 

 months of December, January, and February, when the 

 tree flowers and renews its leaves. The natives eat the 

 insects, which are reported to be very fat and sweet. 

 Dr. Harrisf remarks that " the food of these beetles 

 is fluid, like that of the Trichii and Cetonise, insects 

 belonging to the same natural family ; but the latter 

 live chiefly on the nectar of flowers, and the former on 

 tlie sap of plants. The long brushes on their maxilla?, 

 and the diverging rows of hairs that lino their lower 



• Dr. Harris' Insects Injurious to Vc-Ki'tation, p. 26. 

 I Journal of Boston Soc. Nat. His,, vol. iv. 



VOL. II. 



lips, are admirably fitted for ab.^urbing liquid food, 

 while their horny teeth afford these beetles additional 

 means of obtaining it from the leaves and juicy stems 

 of plants when the blossoms have disappeared. Thus 

 every new discovery in natural history, even when 

 least expected, serves to increase the evidence of skilful 

 contrivance, and perfect adaptation of structure in all 

 organized beings." 



Among the Goliath beetles some of the species are 

 metallic green, dashed with yellow in various lights, as 

 the E. Morgani. The E. Grallii, described by ]M. 

 Buquet, is even a more showy species from Congo, 

 whence the late Mr. Curror of the royal navy sent 

 it to the Museum. The E. Smitldi is a pretty modest 

 brownish-yellow species, with four black spots, found 

 in Natal, and first sent home by Dr. (now Sir) Andrew 

 Smith. Another fine sub-genus is Mecynorhina con- 

 taining the dark-green and yellow-spotted M. Pohj- 

 phemus of Western Africa, and the even finer Mecy' 

 ncn-hina Savagii found in tropical Africa ; its thorax is 

 striped, the feet and the hind legs are ftdvous. 



CocouD_of Cioliathits 1 



the end ol iUv elytift ;iiid 



III the British Museum is a specimen of the Cocoun 

 of the Golialhus Drurii, with a strong raised ledge 

 which nearly sunounds it, and not only helps to 

 strengthen it, but also keeps it from rolling too far, 

 should it fall.— (See fig. 93.) 



Fine Goliath beetles are found in South Africa, 



2 E 



