Beetles 
276 
cell in the wood. The goldsmith-beetle, Cotalpa lanigera, of similar size 
and shape, is glistening, burnished lemon-yellow above with metallic 
greenish, golden, and rose reflections; below it is copper-colored and 
thickly covered with whitish wool, hence the name lanigera , or wool-bearer. 
It appears in May and June, flies by night, and feeds on the foliage of 
various trees. The larva lives in the ground, feeding on plant-roots. It is 
said to require three years to complete its growth. 
The largest beetles in our country are the oddly shaped rhinoceros-beetles, 
Dynastes, found in the south and west. D. tityrus (Fig. 380), 2\ inches long, 
is greenish gray with scattered black spots on the elytra; the male has a 
large horn on the head and three horns, one larger than the others, on the 
pro thorax; the female has only a tubercle on the head; it is a southern species. 
D. grantii , of the west, has the large prothoracic horn twice as long as in 
tityrus. In the West Indies occurs D. Hercules, six inches long! The larvae 
Fig. 380.—The rhinoceros-beetle, Dynastes tityrus. (Natural size.) 
(Fig. 381) of these beetles live in the roots of decaying trees. Allied to 
Dynastes is the genus Ligyrus, of which L. rugiceps, the black sugar-cane 
beetle of the southern states, is the best-known species; it burrows into the 
base of sugar-cane and sometimes corn, and is often seriously destructive. 
The larva lives in manure. The flower-beetles are Scarabaeids of several 
genera, which are commonly seen flying from flower to flower and feeding 
on pollen. The bumble flower-beetle, or Indian Cetonia, Euphoria inda 
(Fig. 382), a common species, is f inch long, yellowish brown, with the 
elytra irregularly covered with small blackish spots, and with the whole 
body clothed with short fox-colored hairs; it appears early in spring, and 
flies near the ground with a loud humming. It feeds on flower-pollen, the 
tassels and green silk of young corn, and later on ripening fruits of all kinds; 
it often swarms about wounded trees, lapping up the escaping sap. The 
larvae feed on decaying substances underground. The fig-eater, or “southern 
June-beetle,” Allorhina mtida , | inch to 1 inch long, is rather pointed in 
