THE GOLDSMITH BEETLE. 275 
Naturalist (vol. ii, pp. 186, 441). He says that in the month of May in 
the ordinary culture of his garden the spade has turned up this beetle 
generally in company with the May beetle. He found that some of 
the larvae, as in the case of the May beetle, assume the adult beetle 
state in October and remain under ground for seven months before 
appearing in the spring. 
Larva. — The larvae (tig. 107) he describes as "whitish grubs, about one inch and 
three-quarters long and over half an inch thick, with a yellowish-brown scale on the 
part corresponding to the thorax." I may add that it so nearly resembles the young 
of the May beetle that it requires a close examination to tell them apart. The pro- 
portions of the two are much the same ; if anything the Cotalpa is slightly shorter 
and thicker, and its body is covered with short, stiff hair, especially at the end, while 
in the May beetle the hairs are much finer, sparse, and the skin is consequently 
shiny. They also differ in the head being fuller, more rounded in Cotalpa, the cly- 
peus shorter and very convex, while in the May beetle it is flattened. The upper lip 
(labrum) is in Cotalpa longer, more rounded in front and narrower at the base, and 
full convex on the surface, while in the young May beetle it is flat. The antennas 
are longer and larger in the goldsmith beetle, the second joint a little over half as 
long as the third, while in the May beetle grub it is r early three-quarters as long; 
the third joint is much longer than in the latter grub, while the fourth and fifth are 
of the same relative length as in the May beetle, but much thicker. The jaws (man- 
dibles) are much alike in both, but not quite so acute in the Cotalpa as in the other, 
nor are the inner teeth so prominent. The maxilla is much longer and with stouter 
spines, and the palpi are longer and slenderer in the grub of Cotalpa than in the 
other, though the joints have the same relative proportion in each; the basal joint 
is nearly twice as long as in the May beetle. The under lip (labium) is throughout 
much longer, and the palpi, though two-jointed in each, are much longer and slen- 
derer in the grub of Cotalpa than in that of the May beetle. The feet are much 
larger and more hairy in the Cotalpa. Both larvae are about an inch and a half long, 
and a third (.35) of an inch thick at the widest part. 
As regards the number of years in the life of this insect, Dr. Lock- 
wood remarks : 
When collecting the larvae in May I often observed in the same places grubs of the 
Cotalpa of at least four distinct ages, each representing a year in the life of the 
insect, judging from Renny's figures of the larvae of the English cockchafer, or dor- 
beetle (Melolontha vulgaris). But the cockchafer becomes an imago in January or 
February, and comes forth into active life in May, just four years from the deposit of 
the egg. Supposing our Cotalpa to take on the imago form in autumn, and to spend 
its life from that time to the next May in the ground, it would be five years old when 
it makes its de"but as an arboreal insect. 
It is possible that Dr. Lockwood may be in error regarding the age 
of this beetle, as M. T. Reiset says in France this insect is three years 
in arriving at its perfect beetle state. The following remarks on the 
habits of the European chafer may aid observers in this country in 
studying the habits of our native species. M. Reiset says (see " Cos- 
mos " as translated in the American Naturalist, vol. ii, p. 209) : 
This beetle in the spriDg of 1865 defoliated the oaks and other trees, while immense 
numbers of their larvae in the succeeding year, 1866, devoured to a fearful extent the 
roots of garden vegetables, etc., at a loss to the department of the lower Seine of 
over five millions of dollars. This insect is three years in arriving at its perfect 
beetle state. The larvae, hatched from eggs laid by the beetles which appeared in 
