72 FAMILIES OF PETALOCERA WHICH FEED ON 



Cetonia, and the mandibles of Dijnastes ; but notwith- 

 standing, in his later works he places them at a distance 

 from Cetonia ; so that, if this order of distribution be 

 natural, these insects would appear to have a greater 

 affinity to Glaphyrus than to the Cetoniida. But it re- 

 quires only the slightest examination to perceive that 

 the Rutelida form a point of union for the families of 

 Melolonthidce, Anoplognathida, and Cetoniida, and that 

 they come excessively near to the Dynastidce, in the true 

 genus Rutela, of Avhich the type is Rutela lineola, Lat. 



The Rutelidac may perhaps vie with the Cetoniida for 

 beauty, and certainly exceed them in metallic brilliancy. 

 They are peculiar to the new world, with the solitary ex- 

 ception of Hexodon reticulation 3 - Oliv.; of which however 

 neither the country nor the natural situation in the system 

 is as yet accurately determined. Out of upwards of 

 eighty species of this family in my father's collection, I only 

 know two or three from without the tropics, and none 

 from higher latitudes than 40°. 



No observations have hitherto been made on their 

 manner of living ; but analogy would induce us to conclude 

 that it must be intermediate between that of a Cetonia, 

 which feeds on flowers, and that of a Melolontha, which 

 feeds on leaves. 



Fam. VII. CETONIID^. 



Antenna? articulis decern glabris, ante oculos vix sub clypei 

 latere insert ce ; 



a Hexodon unicolor of Olivier and Fabricius appears to be only a variety 

 of H. reticulatum. 



