134 COLEOPTEEA. 



beetle is about three twentieths of an inch long. Its head, 

 wing-covers, and body beneath are dark blue ; its thorax and 

 legs are dull orange-red ; the upper side of its abdomen is 

 also orange-colored ; and the antennae and feet are blackish. 

 The females have a very odd appearance before they have 

 laid their eggs, their abdomen being enormously swelled out 

 like a large orange-colored ball, which makes it very difficult 

 for them to move about. I have found these insects on the 

 knot-grass in every month from April to September inclusive. 

 The larvae eat the leaves of the same plant. 



Having described the largest, the most elegant, and the 

 most common of our Chrysomelians, I must omit all the rest, 

 except the most splendid, which was called ISumolpus auratus 

 by Fabricius, that is, the gilded Eumolpus (Plate II. Fig. 1). 

 It is of a brilliant golden green color above, and of a deep 

 purplish green below ; the legs are also purple-green ; but 

 the feet and the antennae are blackish. The thorax is 

 narrower behind than the wing-covers, and the rest of the 

 body is more oblong oval than in the foregoing Chrysome- 

 lians. It is about three eighths of an inch long. This splen- 

 did beetle may be found in* considerable numbers on the 

 leaves of the dog's-bane (Apoeynum Androscemifolium), which 

 it devours, during the months of July and August. The 

 larvae are unknown to me. 



The fourth family of the leaf-eating Chrysomelians consists 

 of the Cryptocephalians (CbyptocephaliDjE), so named from 

 the principal genus Oryptoeephalus, a word signifying con- 

 cealed head. These insects somewhat resemble the beetles of 

 the preceding family ; but they are of a more cylindrical form, 

 and the head is bent down, and nearly concealed in the fore 

 part of the thorax. Their larvae are short, cylindrical, whit- 

 ish grubs, which eat the leaves of plants. Each one makes 

 for itself a little, cylindrical or egg-shaped case, of a substance 

 sometimes resembling clay, and sometimes like horn, with 

 an opening at one end, within which the grub lives, putting 

 out its head and fore legs when it wishes to eat or to move. 



