256 
COLEOPTERA. 
India, America and Africa contain the majority of species, the num¬ 
ber of Indian species not being large, probably less than 60 in all. Oryctes 
rhinoceros, Linn., is one plains species, found throughout the cultivated 
plains where toddy, cocoanut or other palms are grown. The beetle 
flies by night and eats into the soft tissues of the apex of the growing 
palm; in eating through the folded developing haves it makes tunnels 
which are shown by ragged holes in the leaves when they open. Fre¬ 
quently the growing bud of the palm dies, growth is stopped and the whole 
palm withers. The insect is known by a variety of names in most parts 
of India where its ravages are known ; the toddy-drawers know it and 
often know that its grub can be found in a heap of decaying vegetation or 
in a decking tree. These larvae are fat soft grubs, with a much wrin¬ 
kled body, and as the tissues inside move, the whole suggests a well stuffed 
soft pillow in which is a small struggling animal. Phyllognathus dyonisius , 
F., is the only other common Dynastid. The life-history of this has been 
worked out from specimens sent 
in by A. M.T. Jackson, Esquire, 
i.c.s., as destroying rice in Bel- 
gaum. It is fully illustrated in 
Plate XV and has been full)) 
described elsewhere (Mem. Agric. 
Dept-., India, Entom., Vol. II). 
Shortly, the eggs are laid in 
soil in the commencement of the 
rains (June-July), the larvae are 
mature by September and pupate, the imago emerges in October and 
remains in the soil until May, when it comes out. The larvae behave 
like typical cockchafer grubs, feeding on the roots of plants. 
i Cetoniina^. 
Moderate-sized insects, often of brilliant metallic colouring; the 
form of the body is slightly flatter than in the Melolonthidce and the scu- 
tellum is often large. The males are rarely distinguished by prominent 
characters, such as horns, and the two sexes are closely similar in the 
common species. The colouring is very striking, metallic green in some, 
brown with varied yellow markings in others; and in conformity with 
this, many are diurnal species which are seen on flowers. The life-history 
