375 
No. 151.] 
upon leaves, others upon flowers, and others upon dung. Those 
pertaining to the genus Jimp/dcoma, of which we here have two 
species, frequent flowers, it is supposed for the purpose of ex¬ 
tracting their honey, whilst the hairiness of their bodies serves 
greatly to aic] in conveying the pollen to the stigma, and thus ren¬ 
dering the flowers fertile. To the same family with Hoplia, 
Jlnisoplia, &c., pertains the cockchafer of Europe, the most com¬ 
mon and destructive of all insects belonging to the order of the 
Beetles, and the compeer of which, we have in our American 
May-beetle. Experiments go to show that whilst the most power¬ 
ful poisons have no effect upon these insects, they are readily de¬ 
stroyed by alkaline preparations, which at the same time promote 
the growth of the plants to which they are applied. 
No. 70 belongs to the family of Stag Beetles (Lucanid^e), the 
larvae of which mostly reside in rotten wood. 
No. 71—75, and also 83—86, pertain to the family Pimeliid2e, 
of which we have very few' species upon this continent, whilst 
they are numerous upon the borders of the Mediterranean 
and in the deserts of Africa. Little is known of their habits. 
The seven next species (No. 76—82) belong to the Buprestid^:, 
one of the families-of the Snapping Beetle, which is noted for 
the brilliancy of its colors. The larvae of these insects live in 
the solid wood of trees, doing much injury to timber by the holes 
which they perforate in it. The mature insects are frequently 
found in lumber yards and in newly built houses, Jiaving made 
their escape from the wood in which their larvae had resided. 
They are sometimes many years in attaining maturity and making 
their escape from their burrows. A white pine plank in the stepa 
at one of the doors of my residence shows a hole perforated from 
within by a larva in the year 1838, these steps having been built 
twelve years before. In the tenth volume of the Linnaean Trans¬ 
actions, Mr. Marsham records the exit of a Buprestis splendent 
from the wood of a desk which had stood in one of the oflices in 
the Guildhall, London, upwards of twenty years. A still more 
remarkable case has been reported in this country: an apple tree, 
transplanted from the farm of Gen. Putnam, by his son, to Wil- 
