COLEOPTERA. 439 
who tells us that this unfortunate insect shared with the Cockchafer 
the privilege of amusing children. The Cetonza flies by day and 
by night, making use of its inferior wings without opening the 
elytra (Fig. 423). When seized, it pours out from the extremity 
of its abdomen a foetid liquid, the only means of defence the poor 


Vig. 423. - Rosebeetle (Cetonz1 auratz). 
insect possesses. The larva (Fig. 424) much resembles the larva 
of the Cockchafers, but the legs are shorter. It is found in rotten 
wood, and often in ants’ nests. When it has acquired its full 
development it makes a shell of an oval form (Fig. 424), in which 

Figo. 424.—TLarva and cocoon of the Rose beetle. 
it transforms itself into a pupa; the shell is composed of bits 
of wood agglomerated with a silky matter which the larva 
secretes. 
The larva of the Cetonia splendidula, which is the most magnifi- 
cent found in France, is met with sometimes in the nests of wild 
bees. In Russia the Rose beetle is considered a very efficacious 
remedy for hydrophobia. In the governorship of Saratow, which tra- 
verses the Volga, hydrophobia is very frequent on account of the 
heats which reign during the whole summer in its arid steppes. 
The inhabitants, incessantly exposed to be bitten by mad dogs, have 

