FAMILY MELOLONTHIDjE. 77 



may prove injurious to the vine : still their numbers are rarely such as to render them a 

 formidable foe. The only mode of destroying them, which is recommended, is to pick them 

 off and crush them under the foot. The larva. 1 are scarcely injurious, inasmuch as they 

 live in rotten wood, as stumps of trees, and such trunks as are decaying upon the ground : 

 they may be regarded rather as beneficial, by aiding the entire destruction of that which 

 only cumbers the ground. 



The perfect insect prevails during the months of July and August. 



P. macui.ata, an allied species or variety, has the legs and extremity of the abdomen of 

 the same color as the upper parts. ' These beetles fly by day, but may also be seen at the 

 same time on the leaves of the grape, which are their only food : they sometimes prove 

 very injurious to the vine. The only method of destroying them, is to pick them off by 

 hand, and crush them under foot. The larva live in rotten wood, such as the stumps and 

 roots of dead trees, and do not differ essentially from those of other scarabseans' (Harris, 

 p. 23). In the variety which Dr. Melsheibier has designated imjnmctata, the spots are 

 absent. 



Genus CPJEMASTOCHEILUS (Knoch). 



Thorax quadrangular, anterior angles prolonged ; first joint of the antenna dilated : 

 mandibles terminating in a strong curved or scythe-like tooth, and furnished with 

 small spines in place of the internal lobe ; last articulation of the palpi long and 

 cylindrical : mentum a reversed heart in form ; upper angles rounded, without 

 emargination (Regne Animal). 



Cremastocheilus hentzii. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 2.) 



Color black ; form quadrate, sides parallel ; upper surface punctured : elytra ridged and 

 coarsely punctured. The whole surface is clothed with procumbent hairs ; beneath, 

 they are stiff, or somewht spinous. Length one-half of an inch. 



Osmoderma scaber. Gymnotus s. ( Kirby) ; Trichius s. ( Palisot de Beauv.). 



( Plate xii, fig. 9 ; and plate xxv, fig. 5.) 

 Color black, or very dark brown and brassy. Body ovate, flattened ; thorax round, dilated 

 transversely, purplish, strongly punctured, and marked by two rounded ridges before ; 

 elytra deflexed at the shoulders and behind ; surface sculptured, and rather rough 

 than punctured; scutellum very acute : beneath dark brown, smooth and glossy; 

 legs long, purplish ; tibiee trispinous upon their outer edges. 

 The female is larger than I he made, and measures an inch in length ; the male, about 

 eight-tenths of an inch. The name Osmoderma, given by the French naturalists, is indica- 

 tive of the odor the insect imparts to the hands when handled. They fly by night, and are 

 common in New-England and New-York in the month of July. 



