21 
also, occasionally, on ears of corn before tliey liardfiii, and lias also been 
recorded as feedin<i- n])on the sap exnding- from the wounds in the 
branches of trees. Tlnit it does not (tonfme itself to injured twi^s is 
shown by the item published in Insect Life (Vol. IV, p. 75), in which it 
is recorded as burrowing into the tender branches of oak trees. In this 
case, which was at Springfield, Mo., the insects were very numerous, and 
caused the destruction of many ycmng branches of black oak, scrub 
oak, and post oak. A beneficial habit was noticed by Mr.W. W. Meech, 
the well-known quince grower of Vineland, X. J., and is recorded in 
Volume I (pp. 88-89), Insect Life. Mr. :\reecli found the adult beetles 
eating the fungus, RwstcUa aurantiaca, upon his quince trees. They 
even alighted upon the 
fungus in his basket 
Avhen he was gathering 
it and ate it greedily. 
The closely allied spe- 
cies, AUorJiina )iu(t((hilis, 
which occurs in the ex- 
treme southwestern por- 
tionsof the Cnited States, 
has similar habits and is 
even more noted as dam- 
aging fruit. This insect 
appears after the first 
summer rains in Arizona 
and New ]\Iexico and 
immediately seeks the 
peach orchards, where it 
selects the choicest fruits 
and ruins them. In case 
there are no ripening peaches, it feeds upon grapes and even upon 
growing cornstalks, disappearing during the latter part of August. A 
correspondent, Mr. John B. Miano. of Tombstone. Ariz., writing to the 
Department in September, 1889, said that frequently these beetles could 
be noticed by thousands and millions in the trees, devouring the apri- 
cots, peaches, figs, prunes, plums, pears, apples, and grapes. 
In its larval condition AUorliina nifida is a ^' white grub,'' much 
resembling the common white grubs of the northern States, which are 
the larviie of the species of Lachnosterna, a genus of scarabieid beetles 
belonging to quite a different tribe from the Allorhina. These white 
grubs of the Allorhina live at or below the surface of the ground, and 
frequently occur in countless numbers in grass lawns, in strawberry 
beds, in celery beds, and in fact wherever the soil is very rich and the 
vegetation is vigorous. The actual amount of damage done by these 
larv.T is problematical, and, in fact, it is even problematical whether 
they normally do damage at all. In a note published in the Canadian 
Entomologist for October, 1879, the writer mentioned the fact of the 
Fig 
lllorhina nitida: a, adult; h, larva; c, pupa in a cut-open 
cell : d, pupa cell — natural size (original. 
