42 
COLEOPTE RA. 
Fig. 18. 
insect, with a broad, oval, and flattened body ; the thorax is 
nearly round, but wider than long; 
there are no wedge-shaped pieces be- 
tween the corners of the thorax and 
the shoulders of the wing-cases, and 
the outer edges of the latter are en- 
tire. It is of a purplish-black color, 
with a coppery lustre ; the head is 
punctured, concave or hollowed on 
the top, with the edge of the broad 
visor turned up in the males ; nearly 
flat, and with the edge of the visor not raised in the females ; 
the wing-cases are so thickly and deeply and irregularly 
punctured as to appear almost as rough as shagreen ; the 
under-side of the body is smooth and without hairs ; and 
the legs are short and stout. In addition to the differences 
between the sexes above described, it may be mentioned that 
the females are generally much larger than the males, and 
often want the coppery polish of the latter. They measure 
from ei<dit tenths of an inch to one inch and one tenth in 
O 
length. They are nocturnal insects, and conceal themselves 
during the day in the crevices and hollows of trees, where 
they feed upon the sap that flows from the bark. They have 
the odor of Russia leather, and give this out so powerfully 
that their presence can be detected, by the scent alone, at the 
distance of two or three yards from the place of their retreat. 
This strong smell suggested the name Osmoderma, that is, 
scented skin, given to these beetles by the French naturalists. 
They seem particularly fond of the juices of cherry and apple 
trees, in the hollows of which I have often discovered them. 
Their larvae live in the hollows of these same trees, feeding 
upon the diseased wood, and causing it more rapidly to de- 
cay. They are whitish fleshy grubs, with a reddish hard- 
shelled head, and closely resemble the grubs of the common 
dor-beetle. In the autumn each one makes an oval cell or 
pod, of fragments of wood, strongly cemented with a kind 
