


















188 THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE, AND ITS HABITS. 
as my observations tend, the former are individually 
mischievous. a 
To me the question of origin was interesting. Where ¢ 
the Goldsmiths come from? It is a tree-beetle, and t 
spade turns them up in the ground. Do they originate 
the trees or in the ground? Or is the latter the place 
their winter sleep, and for the purpose of undergoing the 
transformations? On this point, I found the authorities 
simply quoting Harris, who says, “the larve of this i 
are not known; probably they live in the ground upon 
roots of plants.” My mind was made up to watch 
Newton could say in effect that to the astronomer pa 
is genius, the burden of the naturalist’s “Life Psalm 
“Learn to labor, and to wait.” 
For five years was kept up that vernal watching, € 
May yielding specimens, but no secrets. In the sp 
1865, to my surprise I turned up a fine, fresh, pale 
out of a small heap of dirt that I had put there the p 
positive ; nor could it have entered there during the 
Hence it was beyond doubt that I had unwittingly 7 
the larva there myself; or, as I think more probable, t 
advanced pupa. That month a very strict watch was 
for all specimens that might be turned up by § 
plough, with the hope thdt a pupa, or a newly, 9 
quite developed imago, would-be obtained. All was 1 
The next step was to examine very thoroughly € 
of a coleopterous kind found in proximity with the 1 
This led to the discovery that certain large whitish $ 
about one inch and three quarters long, and ove. 
inch thick, had a yellowish brown scale on the part. 
sponding to the thorax, and it was thought it mig 
into the red golden hue of the thorax of the perfected 
This decided my course. Like Scholasticus, who 
heard that the crow lived a hundred years, at once’ 
