80 ORDER COLLI HI ERA. 



changed, however, with frequenting orchards and feeding upon the ripening fruits : par- 

 ticular]; d'> the] select the besl peaches, which, if ihevdi. qo1 entirelj devour, the] 

 greatly injur.- by biting them. The distinguished naturalist lasl ab \ e named menti< ns that 

 he has taken a do/en from a single peach. 



When cold weather approaches, they are supposed to secure themselves in some she! 

 tared place, and pass the winter. The March brood, as 1 have often observed, appear to 

 issue directlj from the ground; and at numerous places the] may be seen in numbers, 

 flying Low, and hovering over the ground like humblebees, upon which thej alight and 

 are lost in the dead grass and leaves, or penetrate again into the earth. 



The genera of thi< family are numerous, and are known as fewer beetles. The Eur< pean 

 species Citonin [Epicometis) hirta is said to destroy apricol blossoms in Malta : and another, 

 ( ' Utnia cardui, visits beehives, and destroys the wax and hone] [Remti Zoologtqut . \ ii. 96). 

 Plates of lead, with small perforations for the bees, were put over the place of ingress; 

 hut the cetonire soon enlarged them : zinc was then substituted, and f>>und to answei as 

 a protection. 



Ct.TOMA fuloida ( Fab.). ( Plate xii, fig. 4.) 



Body depressed, ovate. Head small, green above : thorax triangular and brilliant green, 



margined with luteous ; its sides are also slightly dilated ; base slightly sinuous for 



the reception of the scutel, which is an isosceles triangle and screen. Elytra luteous, 



s onetimes they show a greenish tint, truncate and dellexed behind : at the deflexure 



they are prominent j the prominence terminates an obscure ridge which runs from the 



' the elytra; the suture is also elevated, so as to form a central ridge. 



Behind, the abdomen is marked with four triangular mould] spots : spots similar to 



these extend along the sides of the abdomen ; legs luteous, gl iss] : sides of the breast 



hairy; tarsi and base of the cubits brown, nearly black. Length six-tenths of an inch. 



This insect, which is very common in Maryland, is not very numerous, as I have 



observed, in New-England and New-York : it is more common in the paths in groves than 



elsewhere. 



