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Yin olRtamioee rth eh Te . QS GG WA flow? Ane sein nee capeag wide ahh ; ye 7 . ees ed ie Wher ot oe doe ere gape tieeopy ody W ; | | . # salen w+ : Perens cay Oia - ‘oe } ° . r 7 * it ull sp ee eel 7 4 - ' PREFACE. 1 wave not attempted, in the preparation of this work, to place before my readers an account of all the rare and newly discovered insects of New- York and New-England, but have confined myself to those which are most common and widely distributed. The rare and the local possess an interest in the eyes of the learned ; but those which are daily met with in the fields and in our walks, are the ones our interests demand us to know: the former do neither harm nor good; but a familiar acquaintance with the forms and habits of the common and widely spread, is an indispensable preliminary towards enabling the husbandman to take advantage of the services they may be made to render him, or to protect his premises and the fruits of his labor from the depredations of noxious broods. This view has mainly con- trolled our undertaking : as the work is designed for those who are supposed to be mere beginners in entomology, and perhaps intend to prosecute the study no farther than practical results will warrant, it was thought fit to restrict the field of investigation to such insects as are sufficiently numerous to interfere in some way with the prosperity or comforts of the dwellers in this northern portion of our country. One part of my labor has been to collect materials in the field, and an- other to collect them from the researches of others, the latter item con- stituting doubtlessly the largest and most valuable portion of the entire work ; but it is confidently believed that naturalists and authors who have contributed largely to the common stock of entomological knowledge, and thereby earned and received a high and enduring reputation, will not be disposed to object to the diffusion of information fraught with such great consequence to the welfare of community. These distinguished investigators are honored by their discoveries; but their discoveries require to be made known to all the world, to the end that their results may redound to the common good of the human family. ° >. os t 4 iv 4 *% * ‘PREFACE. = a ‘ After saying thus much in general, it is scarcely necessary to add that this work is designed to disseminate the thiormatidp collected from various periodicals in which it was first gathered, and from expensive books of the day in which a large amount is almost inaccessibly stored up, but is not expected to add much to the materials of knowledge already accumulated. We have been poorly supplied with the means of promoting the study of entomology in this country, notwithstanding we have among us such men as the Leconte’s elder and younger, who both stand in the first rank of entomologists; but it is unfortunate that their classical works are mostly confined to the libraries of the learned. I have made the freest use of Dr. Hanais’s excellent and practical works ; and have also been very much assisted by our distinguished entomologist, Dr. Asa Frren of Salem, Washington county, N.Y. rear I have occasion also to acknowledge a further indebtedness to Mr. Hat- peman of Columbia (Pennsylvania), who enjoys a European reputation as a naturalist, for several valuable notes on various insects; and could his as- sistance have been still farther procured, the value of my work would un- doubtedly have been greatly enhanced. I have figured such insects as I have seen, and know to belong to New- York and New-England; but I have not seen them in all their states, and am therefore frequently indebted to others for the figures given of the larva and pupa stages. Some are copied from Ansorr & Ssirn’s work on the in- sects of Georgia, and some from other works of like kind. I have figured very few foreign species, and these have had some’ special purpose in view. The figures have been drawn from specimens of the insects themselves, by E. Exons junior, and are faithful and accurate portraits of the indivi- duals from which they were taken. It is difficult, however, to secure a finished and uniform coloring, especially for so large an edition as three thousand copies. I do not deem it necessary to point out the faults of this volume ; for the keen-sighted, and those who are disposed to look after them, will find them with little trouble. I am persuaded, however, that the general reader, as well as the student, will find in it many valuable records. E. EMMONS. Avnany, July 25, 1854. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS .. ai a ave he CHAPTER II. SKETCH OF TITLE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF INSECTS. Pages 1-7 Anatomical description of parts— Function of digestion— Circulation— Nervous system — Senses of touch, hearing, smell, sight and taste— Muscular motion— Function of propagation, pp. 7 — 24 Appenpix to Chapter II, embracing references to Plates A, B and E CHAPTER III. REMARKS on the classification of insects CHAPTERS IV TO XI, ORDER I. COLEOPTERA a ie ar CICINDELID& CARABIDE Dyticip”z NITIpULID® Enaipa STrAPHYLINID® Byrraips HistErIp& LucaNntp&% GEOTRUPIDE .. ScARABAIDA 2 - ine Trogipm tte ais - es DyNASTID&® MELOLONTHIDA Burrestip& .. ELATERIDZ LAMPYRIDE a | AcricutturAL Report — Vot. v.] B pp- 25 — 28 pp- 29, 30 pp- 3f - 138 p- 32 38 55 x 58 + 59 61 vi CONTENTS. TEeLernonipa Cienipa we és bis Prinxipe ee LYMEXYLONID® Bosraicnips Prrocnroips CANTHARIDA iP CisTeLipm® =... Diapenipam .. HeLoripm TENEBRIONIDS ee BLapsip™ ee Poretips’z .. x Bavenipm’ .. & as ATTELABIDA .. aé a> CuRCULIONIDA ScotyTmps Prionipe® CreRamMBpycipe Lerrunips® CRIOCERIDM .. CAssIDIDa CHRYSOMELIDA <3 at GALERUCIDH .. CoccrneLLIpa CHAPTER XII. ORDER IL. EUPLEXOPTERA on CHAPTER NIII. ORDER IIL. ORTHOPTERA BLaTTiIpa MANTID& PHASMIDE ACHETIDE GryLLip® Locustipa CHAPTER XIV. ORDER IV. APHANIPTERA *“* ** 100 ~~ SSSSRREREE -» p. 139 pp- 140 - 147 .. p-ldl 142 « ose 148 144 145 +» p- 148 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. ORDER V. HOMOPTERA ORDER VI. CrcapIp& MeEMBRACIDE APHIDIDE Coccip& CHAPTER XVI. HETEROPTERA .. HyDROMETRIDZ REDUVIIDE .. LyG £1Dz Crmicip£ CorEIDz SouTELLARID£ CHAPTER XVII. ORDER VII. DIPTERA .. TipuLIDE Muscip TABANIDZ XYLOPHAGIDE SyRPHIDz CHAPTER XVIII. ORDER VIII. NEUROPTERA .. ORDER IX. LIBELLULID£ MYRMELEONID&® EpHEMERID CHAPTER XIX. TRICHOPTERA vii pp- 149 — 165 p- 149 153 158 162 pp- 166 - 171 p- 167 es 168 169 169 170 171 pp. 172 - 188 p. 173 181 182 183 183 pp. 184 -— 187 p- 184 185 187 p. 188 CHAPTER XX. ORDER X. HYMENOPTERA .. ORDER XI. TENTHREDINID™ .. at Unocenips .. ae IcunrUMonID&® Srurcips 2 Evaniups .. + ae Scouiups CHAPTERS XXI & XXII. LEPIDOPTERA PariLionips He.tconiip™ NYMPHALID® Lycanip® .. Hespenips .. -_ Spurncips .. Hornips Lirnosipe .. AncTiip® LiIpaRips® SATURNIAD” LASIOCAMPAD® Hepratipes .. NoropontTip® NoNAGRIADS AGroTipa Noervips GroMETRID™ TonTrictp” Yronomevrip® +s - Tringips® pp. 189 - 197 +» p. 190 oe 191 oe. 2108 na 195 - 196 197 pp. 198 - 256 p. 199 202 ° 206 214 sn th 216 222 ° 224 225 230 231 234 241 241° 248 243 244 248 - «©6250 252 262 INSECTS OF NEW-YORK. CHAPTER I, GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. Tue common idea of an insect is, probably, sufficiently exact for all practical purposes ; yet it seems proper that the scientific idea should be expressed : indeed it is always im- portant to define clearly the limits of all departments of Natural History, by stating in determinate language the boundaries which confine them. Insects, then, are animals whose bodies are covered with a coriaceous integument ; and they are divided into three distinct segments or sections, the head, thorax, and abdomen. The head is provided with two an- tenn ; the thorax, with six articulated legs; and the abdomen with many rings, and contains the digestive organs : the sexes are distinct. They have a respiratory, circulatory and nervous apparatus : the first permeates the whole body; the second consists mainly of a long vessel extending through the body, and is called a dorsal vessel, from the position it occupies; the third is a symmetrical arrangement of nervous threads in two lines, placed upon the abdominal face, and connected by knots or ganglia at every ring of the body. The breathing is performed through small openings along the sides of the ab- domen, at every ring : the air admitted permeates the whole system, and acts upon the fluids as in all animals. The most interesting peculiarities, however, consist in the changes which the insect undergoes during its stages of growth, which, although the developments are not more remarkable than in other departments of the animal kingdom, yet differ from the higher in being stationary for certain periods, during which it performs the functions of a perfect animal, except indeed that which belongs to the exercise of the sexual or- gans. These changes are called metamorphoses, and consist of three stages, the worm or larva, the pupa, and the perfect insect. { AcricuttugaL Rerort— Vot. v.] 1 . , 2 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. Insects;-as defined in the foregoing paragraph, are still very to other classes of anignals ; thus they resemble the Myriapodes in the annular or structure, and in the possession of two antennw, but differ from them by the division of their bodies | into three segments, while the Myriapodes are composed of many rings, to each of which there is provided a pair of legs, as in the family of animals called Centipedes. They re- semble the spiders, or Arachnidw, somewhat in the division of the body, but the head in spiders is soldered to the thorax : they are also destitute of antennw ; the nervous system is condensed into fewer central ganglia, and sometimes their respiration is analogous to the pulmonary, the air being received into sacs or bags. They resemble the Crustacea in a few points, but differ essentially from them in the character of the respiratory apparatus, inasmuch as the Crustacea are provided with organs analogous to the gills of fishes. The resemblance which insects bear to the worms, Annelides, is the annulated structure : those worms have neither antennw nor feet, and, as to sex, they are mostly hermaphrodites. In addition to the foregoing, I may add, none of the classes have wings but insects, and their metamorphoses are of a different character, consisting mainly of a casting of the integu- ments as in the crab and lobster. All insects are oviparous, or spring from an egg laid before the birth of the individual. A few examples are known where the egg is retained in the body, and there hatched. These eggs are often carefully concealed, and hence are diseovered with difficulty : it is owing to this circumstance that they multiply to an injurious extent, and are often capable of devastating extensive territories. They are, however, generally laid upon the bodies which are to provide the food for the young : those which subsist upon herbaceous plants, are found upon or near the foliage ; those which feed upon wood are deposited in holes, or in cracks and crevices of trees, into which the young animal immediately begins to penetrate ; or, which is equally bad, the egg is deposited in the rudiments of the fruit, and will be ready to devour it when it is mature. Insects are extremely prolific, but the different species vary exceedingly. According to a statement in the Naturalist’s Library, a certain large fly (Mesembrina meridiena) lays only two eggs ; while the female white ant lays probably not fewer than forty or fifty millions in a year, which are extruded at the rate of sixty in a minute when engaged in the act*. This statement embraces the extremes. Others are known to lay, as the queen bee for exam y thousand ; female wasp, thirty thousand, though generally only from two to three nd. The eggs of the wheat fly are not very numerous, and probably less than one hundred ; yet even in that small number the increase will be sufficient to secure the destruction of the wheatfields in a large district. But many insects produce several broods in a season, and some of the most prolific produce several generations of young, consisting mainly of females, which are capable of laying eggs as soon as they have reached a stage * Naturalist’s Library, Introduction, pp. 72, 73. “—_— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 3 of full evelopment But the law of increase seems to rest upon the supply of food : where this is sure and constant, the increase is much greater than where it is precarious or un- certain ; thus those insects which subsist on animal food are comparatively limited, while the vegetable feeders are more numerous : thiS is in keeping with the harmony of nature, and the original arrangements of the Creator. The eggs of insects are made up, essentially, of the same parts as the egg of vertebrated animals. It consists of a yolk, with its germinal dise and germinal spot, which seem really to be nothing else than a cell with its nucleolus. The yolk is enveloped in a proper mem- brane ; and in order to defend and protect it, it is supplied with a hard outside envelope, analogous to the eggshell of the common fowl; but the shell, the white, and its tough membrane, are not essential parts in the constitution of the egg. The eggs of insects, like all other eggs, obey the law of temperature. The young are hatched at an earlier day if the temperature is increased, and the hatching is retarded in a ' medium of low temperature. It therefore happens that man is often a gainer in consequence of the warmth of spring, which brings forward insect life at an early day, only to perish by the frosts which soon sueeeed. The eggs of insects are endued with the power to resist, or rather withstand, wide variations of temperature. It is evident that they sustain all the ordinary changes of the climate, and that it often happens that they are exposed to a temperature equal to 20° below zero. The ability to withstand either extreme of tempera- ture depends upon the conditions of the egg : if it has progressed considerably towards - the development of an embryo, its power to withstand those extreme changes is diminished. The pupa resists but feebly those changes when it first assumes this state; but when it has nearly reached the period of completing its metamorphosis, it is surprising that it can resist a high degree of heat. I exposed the pupe of numerous silkworms, enclosed in a bottle, to 212°, without injuring them. I was surprised to find, not many days afterwards, that hundreds of millers of both sexes had escaped from their cocoons. The warmth of the sun, together with its light, is sufficient to destroy the vitality of the pupa when it first assumes that state ; but the eggs of insects require air, or oxygen, as much as the perfect animal : when enclosed in a vacuum, they lose their vitality. Oxygen is essential to the development of the embryo, and hence the outer covering must admit its passage. The eggs of some insects seem to grow : they increase in size, probably by the absorption of moisture from the atmosphere, or from the surface upon which they are laid. The covering of eggs varies exceedingly : in some it is beautifully sculptured ; in others it is smooth and shining. These different characters, if they could be fully delineated, would constitute important marks for the discrimination of species, for it is probable that they differ in the species to which they belong. The most remarkable fact in the history of insects, is their metamorphosis. The egg, as has been observed already, is similar to the eggs produced by other classes of animals ; but it never gives birth to a perfect insect, the immediate product of the egg being really as . 4 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. unlike thé perfect insect as possible ; for what can be more unlike than the caterpillar and butterfly ? How disgusting the one, as it crawls like a reptile; and how beautiful the other, as it flits in the air like a bird! From the egg, the first state in which the insect appears is the larva. This stage of existence is characterized by the vermiform shape and construction of their bodies ; and it is a stage which attracts our attention more frequently than that of the insect, and it is one in which it usually commits a greater amount of injury than in the perfect stage : it is, too, in this stage that the agriculturist can more effectually exterminate these his foes. The term /erva is applied generally to the immature butterfly or caterpillar. Grubs are white, soft-bodied animals, which are immature beetles ; while maggots are immature flies, or belong to the dipterous order of insects. All, however, are the analogous re- presentatives of the different orders in the same stage of development, or that stage during which the insect grows and frequently casts its integuments : it devours immense quanti- ties of food, and is often very destructive to the foliage of vegetables. When it has reached its development for the larva stage, it ceases to eat, wraps itself in a mantle, simulates death, but is really undergoing internal changes preparatory to a higher stage of develop- ment. In its mantle it casts its old skin, which it presses down into the lower part of its envelope, and soon appears in a livery peculiar to the pupa stage. The time during which it is confined to this stage varies with every insect : in some it is brief; in others, it is long. Insects are composed of thirteen segments, including the head ; but an obscurity often arises from the consolidation of segments, and often produces thereby a disproportionate . development of certain parts. The three segments immediately behind the head correspond to the prothorar, mesotho, ar, and metathoraz of the insect ; and these bear the three pair of legs, provided the larva possesses legs. These are persistent, and hence are called true legs, to distinguish them from the abdominal legs, prolegs or props, which are caducous, or are never transmitted to the perfect insect ; they are peculiar to the larva. The mouth-pieces or oral organs frequently differ in the different stages also. These are sometimes designed for suction in the larva, while the perfect insect is provided with jaws for mastication ; hence, in such cases, the nature of the food is changed : in other cases the provisions for taking food are the same in both stages. The larve grow rapidly, as a general fact, insomuch that the whole structure of the animal it tes provisions subservient to this result : they are provided with strong and efficient ns of manducation ; their digestive organs are very large rato ; the function of digestion is rapidly effected, and the consumption of food is in pro- + portion to the weight of the body. It is stated that flesh-flies increase two hundred times their weight in twenty-four hours. Count Daxpoto remarks that the weight of the silk- worm, when first hatched, is about one-hundredth of a grain, or it requires one hundred of them to weigh a grain : after the first moulting, one hundred weigh 15 grains ; after the second, the same number weigh 94 grains ; after the third, their weight is 400 grains ; GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 5 after the fourth, their conjoint weight is 1628 grains ; and after the fifth, when they have attained a length of three inches, they weigh 9500 grains. These changes of skin, called moultings, seem designed to accommodate the development of the body to its outer enve- lope : it is a critical period ; and if any accident happens which interferes with its proper performance, the animal either perishes, or is left in an enfeebled state, and is unable to assume the form of the perfect insect. The number of moultings varies with the species, but is always alike in the same species : the same changes are repeated in each respective- ly. All these changes are best observed in the silkworm, in which their number is five, and require thirty days for their complete performance. In some insects the number of moult- ings extends to nine or ten, while in others it does not exceed three or four. The larva ceases to eat when it is undergoing this process : an internal change takes place, however, which greatly favors the casting of its envelope ; it is the absorption of the fat beneath the outer skin, which becomes shrivelled, while at the same time it gives opportunity for the expansion of the internal parts. The motions are strange during this period : their bodies are curiously shaken and contorted, with jerkings of the head and posterior parts of the abdomen ; these are designed to break up the attachments of the outer skin, and finally to detach it from the new skin beneath, which is bright, fresh, and moist. A rent is finally made in the old skin along the back, through which the animal now forces its way, in which process it is assisted by attaching itself to some point of support : this is managed so adroitly that the old skin remains whole, except the rent along the back, and so perfect that it might be mistaken for the perfect larva. The change is not confined to the outer envelope : the organs of respiration, though extremely delicate, as well as those of diges- tion, cast off also their membranes, which are ultimately expelled from the body. It is no wonder, then, that the moulting stage is one of great danger to the larva. This becomes still more hazardous to the silkworm which is placed in an artificial state, and which is increased by the numbers that are crowded into a small area. The last change is attended with circumstances somewhat peculiar. They first seek a suitable retreat, adapted to the nature of the insect itself; a crevice in the bark of trees, a shelter under the roof of a building, or a hole in the ground, in which they construct a sort of chamber, which they line and otherwise prepare in a mode suitable to their necessities. They form habitations with much skill, and the bestowment of much care, to defend their bodies from the ex- tremes of temperature, or as a defence from their enemies. Sometimes, as in the dipterous insects, the old skin is converted into a pupa case, after becoming more rigid and stiff : in other instances a beautiful case is made, and a robe of silk is laboriously woven from a single thread, which is formed and spun from the juices of the body. The silkworm is an admirable example to illustrate the instinctive powers of insects in perfecting their stages of development. We admire the skill by which it suspends itself in its case, and the beautiful mancuvres by which it manages to place the band of silk around its body. The habitation of the pupa is usually called its cocoon ; which term, however, is more commonly applied to those silken cases or envelopes of which I have been speaking, and of which we have an example in the silkworm. This is so closely woven that it ex- cludes water, and is often stiffened by a glutinous matter, by which it preserves its original form even after the perfect animal has escaped ; it is also farther strengthened by leaves and pieces of wood, which undoubtedly serve as a better protection from its enemies. Thus this helpless state is guarded and protected by a system of means which are ealeulated to secure the existence of the animal in its utterly helpless state ; a state which simulates death, and which, in its ultimate triumph, resembles the resurrection of the body from the grave of rea) death. All insects do not undergo the same changes ; neither are they alike in analogous states. Thus the caterpillar of our butterflies wraps itself in its mantlé, where it silently under- goes its change ; but the grasshopper comes from the egg an immature insect, but with the general form of the perfect animal, and hops about with the rudiments of wings upon its back. As it grows rapidly, it outgrows its skin, which it frequently casts, like the larva of the butterfly : its wings continue to grow, and the body to increase ; the partial wings keep pace with these changes, till at last they are perfected, and the animal has reached its perfect state without having lost its activity during its period of growth. The grass- hopper, then, never passes into the inactive pupa state ; and in this its metamorphosis is similar to bugs, and dissimilar to beetles and caterpillars. There is another difference in the history of insect life, which is interesting : it is not the inhabitant of the same medium through life. It may begin its career in the water, and end it in the air : the musquito is an example. Who has not observed the wiggler in stagnant water, and in our cisterns? It is the musquito enjoying its water-life to the full. When the time arrives for its change, it rises to the surface, bursts its mantle, thrusts up its head and spreads its wings, while with its feet it rests still upon its cast-off mantle, then rises buoyant from its sinking bark, and flies away in triumph from the element which gave it birth. Equally remarkable are the appetites of the insect in its larva and in its perfect state. Thus the larva, or, as it is usually called, the maggot, sports and feeds upon the putrid mass ; but the fly, which springs from its mantle, seeks the honey of our table : so various are the sand manners of insect life. The caterpillar, grub and maggot go through the three s or undergo 4 complete metamorphosis ; passing through the three periods which are known as the caterpillar, pupa, and imago.or perfect stage. The last is the only period which is given them to continue their kind and generations : in many it is transient as the fleeting day, and seems designed only for fulfilling the law of increase ; which, when fulfilled, the insect dies. CHAPTER If. SKETCH OF THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF INSECTS. . Tue parts of the insect which are employed in description are the antenne, the segments, the wings and nervures, the eyes, the parts forming the mouth, ete.; and these it will be necessary to describe somewhat at length. The three divisions of the body are marked by deep incisions, by which the head, thorax and abdomen, or hind-body as it is sometimes called, are always distinet in the perfect insect ; but in the larva there are only two divi- sions, the head and body. The middle, or thorax, supports the head and wings. The head is armed with jaws or mandibles and palpi, and ornamented or surmounted by the antenne, which, in some insects, are much larger than their bodies, and are made up of many joints gradually tapering to a point. The wings of beetles are composed of dissimilar pieces, lying, when at rest, one above the other. The upper or outer wing is thick, and shaped to the parietes of the abdomen, being convex above and concave below : it protects the true wing, which is delicate and studiously folded, and is only elevated in flight, in order to give play to the true wings. The upper wings are called elytra, to distinguish them from the reticulated wing; they are also denominated wing-covers or cases, and are often finely sculptured, punctured or ornamented ; to these the insect frequently owes its beauty ; upon these, too, the fine colors are impressed, which are often of a splendent hue or lustre. In other orders of in- sects the four wings are entirely reticulated, or composed of a fine network traversed longitudinally and obliquely by nervures which branch in the same species in a certain manner, which, from their constancy, have been employed by systematists to aid in clas- sifying, and as characteristics of genera. The wings are still farther modified in the Le- pidoptera ; the network is more compact and close, and is covered with fine seales but slightly attached, which appear to the unassisted eye like meal of a pearly hue. Butterflies and moths are provided with this peculiar wing, which, though extremely delicate and always injured when slightly touched with the finger, yet always appears perfect when first captured ; showing thereby their power and ability to perform the natural functions for which they were designed, without sustaining the loss of this delicate substance. The external covering of insects is quite hard ; it is called integument, or crust, and supplies the place of the internal skeleton, and is the part to which the muscles are at- tached. It is somewhat horny, or corneous, but varies considerably in this respect in the different species : in certain beetles it is hard and inflexible ; while in others, it is soft and quite flexible. It resembles the true skin of animals in its divisibility into three layers, an epidermis, a rete mucosum, and a leathery tunic called the corium or dermis, the true skin. This outer integument is composed chemically of phosphate of lime and magnesia; but, what is interesting, it is found to contain a peculiar substance, termed chitine, which is insoluble in potash. Phosphate of iron, albumen, and a peculiar coloring matter, are also among the substances composing this integument. The shape of the head is variable, but the spherical form predominates. The integument forms a kind of box, with an aperture in front, through which the organs of the mouth may be thrust. The posterior part furnishes a place and attachments for the museles which move the head upon the thorax. The eyes are Jarge, usually, and oceupy the lateral parts of the head. The external parts of the head have received different names. The epicranium is that portion which extends from the eyes backwards. In front of the epicranium, is the forehead. The c/ypeus is the margin in front above the mouth. Sometimes the whole region in front of the eyes is called the face. The inferior parts of the box enclosing the head has also its spaces, which have received distinct names, as gula, or throat, which lies imme- diately behind the margin of the lower lip, and extends back to the prothorax. The cheeks are situated upon the sides of the head, from the eyes downwards to the mouth. The an- tenne are situated between the angle of the mouth and the eyes : they have a subglobose joint at the base, upon which they move, and which is placed in a kind of socket ; this is sometimes called a forulus. The mouth, as may be supposed, is constructed so as to answer the ends designed, and it is either suctorial or manducatory, masticating : if the food is fluid, it is suetorial; if solid, it has jaws for mastication. In the mandibulate or masticating, there is perfect free- dom of motion ; in the suctorial or hanstellate (Aaustellata), the parts are more or less soldered together, so as to form a tube for the transmission of fluids. The terms Aaustellata and mendibulata apply, therefore, to two great classes of insects, one of which subsists on the juices of plants and animals, which they obtain by suction ; the others, the masticating, subsist on solid substances. Animals destined to obtain food by modes so apparently distinct, furnish many distinctive characters of importance. The /abrum is the most anterior part seen from above ; it covers the mouth, and is united by a membranous hinge to the cly- peus : it is employed in retaining the food in the mouth during mastication ; it is, there- fore, a true upper lip, but of a variable form. Mastication is performed by the mandibles, which are two strong jaws that move laterally, and consist of wedge-shaped or triangular pieces more or less elongated, and placed immediately below the labrum. These organs are also called upper jaws : they move like the blades of scissors. Their inner edge is fre- DESCRIPTION OF PARTS. 9 quently dentate or toothed, the teeth being arranged so as to shut within each other. Below the upper jaw are the feeler jaws, or maxillx ; these also move horizontally : they are smaller, and, instead of notches, their inner edges are furnished with bristles or hairs ; they are articulated to the throat by a hinge (cardo), which places them at right angles to the stipe or stalk, which last is pretty thick and strong at its upper part. Attached to this is the feeler-bearer, so called because the maxillary palpus is inserted on its outer edge. The terminal portion of the maxilla is the maxillary lobe, which is frequently toothed at its extremity. The maxillary palpus is a filiform, jointed process, which always dis‘inguishes the maxille from the mandibles. The proportion of joints is variable, and in number they never exceed six. The terminal joint is quite variable in form in the different genera, and hence becomes an important characteristic. The under lip is called a latium; it antagonizes the labrum : at its base is the mentum or chin. The anterior part bears the labial palpi : the terminal portion is the ligu/a, and is often lobed. The labial palpi are jointed, but the joints never exceed four. The tongue, in the Carabide, is a lining membrane of the under lip, which protrudes along its anterior angles, or in front : it is obscure among the Coleo- ptera, but more distinet among the Orthoptera. The mouth designed for suction is not very dissimilar to the one formed for mastication. The mandibles have undergone mc difications which are referred to three types, that have received the following appellations : premuscts, proboscis, and haustellum. The tube is formed by the elongation of the maxilla and accessory parts : so also it is formed by the mandibles. The thorax is the section of the insect which lies between the head and abdomen : it supports the legs. Three principal pieces enter into its composition : the anterior supports the fore-legs, and is called the prothorar; the next, the mesothorar, which supports the middle legs and fore-wings; the last, the metathorax, which supports the hind-legs and hind-wings. The inferior part of the thorax is covered by a plate, called the prosternum by Burmeister. The scufellum is a triangular piece of integument interposed between the elytra at their base : sometimes it is concealed by the elytra. Connected with the seutellum is the frenum, a membrane designed to regulate the quantity of movement belonging to the elytra : in the Fulgura it consists of cartilaginous elastic rings, which admit of tension and relaxation. The mesothorax has another important division, called the scapu/e : they assist in forming the articulating socket of the elytra; they pass down the sides of the second thoracic segment. The mesothorax has also its spiracle : on the under side of this segment is placed the mesosternum; it contains the sockets of the middle legs. The metathorax is the posterior segment of the thorax, which supports the hind-legs and the inferior wings : it is well developed in the Coleoptera and Orthoptera. The best authorities regard it as admitting of a division into seven pieces : the dorsal portion is the mefonotum ; it is quadrangular, and notched in front. The metathorax is separated from the abdomen by a parietal wall called the metaphragma, and from the mesothorax by the mesephregma. The lateral portions of the metathorax are provided with horny plates, termed by Kirsy and { Acricuttorat Rerorr— Vot. v.] 2 «4 10 DESCRIPTION OF PARTS, Srexce plewra and peripleura; the latter supports the Aalteres or poisers in dipterous in- sects, The thorax invariably supports six legs. The wings are sometimes wanting, when the insect is said to be apterous ; those with two wings are dipterous; and those with four, tetrapterows. The superior wings are provided with an articulating socket, which is formed in part by the organ called the scapula : they lie close upon the sternum ; they constitute the second pripelpal portion of the mesothorax, lying one on each side in front. Another distinct portion of the mesothorax is the mesosternum : it lies upon the under side, opposite the mesonotum ; in its area the middle legs are articulated. The mesosternum is not equal- ly developed in all orders of insects : it is most perfect in the Coleoptera and Orthoptera ; the dorsal portion has received the name of metanotum, quadrangular in form, and emargi- nate in front. The parts supported by the thorax are the wings and legs; and, as has been observed already, the latter are invariably six in number, and never wanting. The wings are variable in number, in form and in substance ; and upon the variability in form and substance, the orders are composed. Thus those with four wings are termed tefrapterous ; those with two, dipterous; and those with none, apterous. The anterior pair in Tetraptera is attached to the mesothorax : this pair is also sometimes called the superior pair, while the pair attached to the metathorax is called the posterior or inferior pair. The pair which is wanting in the Diptera, is the posterior pair. It has been said that the wings differ in form and substance. Nature, however, preserves rigorously the symmetry of parts. In Coleoptera, the anterior wings differ from the posterior both in substance and form. The substance of the first is leathery, more or less rigid, and horny : their form is various, but adapted to the dorsum or back of the insect ; while the posterior are membranous, flexible and elastic, and capable of being folded beneath the anterior wings. In another order of Tetraptera the wings are similar in form and substance, and of equal size : these insects have received the name of ewroptera. Where, however, in tetrapterous insects, the posterior wings differ in size, but preserve the form and sub- stance of the anterior, the order is called Hymenoptera. Examples of Neuroptera are the dragon-flies ; of Hymenoptera, the common honey-bee, wasp, ete. In flight, the rigid an- terior wing of the Coleoptera is of little use : it serves to protect the membranous wing and abdomen when at rest. Hence it is that the flight of beetles is short, and sustained evidently with much more labor than that of dragon-flies or honey-bees. The insects whose wings are fotlr, and covered with seales, are called from this last cireumstance Lepidoptera, It is proper here to remark, that while there is a great dissimilarity between the anterior wing of « beetle and that of a dragon-fly, yet we are not to suppose that the difference is effected by a sudden leap : there is really a gradation in substance. We have insects whose anterior wings are intermediate in this respect, both in substance and form. Thus the com- mon grasshopper has an anterior wing which is between leathery and membranous, and is DESCRIPTION OF PARTS. 11 elongated very frequently beyond the body. This is the characteristic of the order Ortho- ptera of systematic writers ; and in this order, the wing grows with the body of the insect. There is another modification of the anterior wing, which seems to arise from an arrest of development, as the organ acquires searcely half its usual length : this modification has served to establish the order Hemiptera of authors. A still more beautiful modification of the wing of the inseet is found in butterflies and moths. In these the membrane and network, constituting the frame and foundation-work of the organ, are covered with a mealy substance, or what appears to the unassisted eye as such. This substance, however, is a scale of a beautiful workmanship, of a variable form and size in different insects, and in different parts of the wing of the same insect : they are beautiful objects for the microscope. Rude handling immediately destroys the beauty of the wing, by detaching these scales, and leaving the membrane beneath naked: and broken. . The wing, anatomically considered, is composed of two parts : the nervures, and mem- brane. The former are likened unto ribs, which start from the anterior angle, and branch in various ways as they pass to the posterior margin. They give strength to the organ, and serve an important purpose in supporting and staying the outstretched membrane. The neryures are not, as might at first be supposed, solid ribs : they are traversed internally by a spiral vessel and nerve. The membrane is double, although extremely delicate : this delicacy, however, is no obstacle to the growth of appendages, such as hairs, ete., inasmuch as it is frequently densely covered with them. The wing, divided by the branching and anastomosing of the nervures, forms a network more or less fine. The spaces enclosed by the branches are called cells or areolets ; and being quite constant in form and place, they are employed in the determination of groups. Three areas are particularly noticed, namely, the costal, intermediate, and anal areas. The wing has a base, and anterior and posterior - margins : the first is the part attached to the sternum ; the two others define themselves. The apex of the wing is the part opposite to the base. Various views have been expressed by different authors on the analogical relations of the wings, many of which are certainly very fanciful. M. Avpovurn takes a rational common sense view of these relations, and regards the wings as organs sui generis, intended for the exercise of special functions. Tue Lees. Each segment of the thorax supports a pair of legs. The joint which unites them with the body is called the cora or hip : it is held in its socket by a ligament. The motions of the leg are controlled more or less by the form of the coxa. The thigh is the largest portion of the leg : its form is various; it is cylindrical or flattened, it is straight or arched. If the insect leaps, the posterior thighs are thick and strong. The legs are also more or less spinous. The fidia is the next part of the leg, and forms an angle with the thigh. It is more slonder than the thigh, and is connected with it by « joint similar to a knee-joint, called giaglimus (articulation) ; it is so formed that it may be closely applied to the thigh. Spines- and spurs are also found upon the tibia or shank : whien the spines are short, they are regarded as teeth. The spurs are articulated with the part, and possess some motion : they are commonly arranged in pairs at the extremity of each tibia. The tibia terminates below in the fersus, or foot ; this consists of a series of pieces, more or less heart-shaped, and never exceeding five in number. The combined motion of these pieces is considerable, though it is such as belongs to the ginglimus articulation : they are never of equal length, and the first one is the longest of all. The terminal piece bears a bifid claw, often dentate or serrate on the edges ; and a spurious claw is frequently found between the branches. In addition to the forenamed parts, we often find cushions placed upon the bottom of the foot, which serve as sucking cups, enabling the insect to support itself in a pendant position. Hairs also clothe the sole. The forelegs often exhibit a form more or less divergent from the others, and hence serve an additional purpose in the cconomy of the inseet : they are employed in prehension. So it is sometimes the case that the hindlegs have a form specially adapted to a particular purpose, such as the rolling of the ball in which the eggs are enclosed, ete, The third part of the body of an inseet, which calls for our attention, is the abdomen : it has no appendage, and in this respect differs from the parts already noticed. Its external structure is not peculiar ; for, like the other parts, it is composed of a series of horny rings or segments, which are closely connected together. The rings do not exceed nine in num- ber : if they appear to be fewer than nine, it may arise from the overlapping of adjacent ones. A section of the abdomen exhibits a triangular outline. The abdomen itself is united to the thorax, but not always in the same way : the area of junction is sometimes broad, or equal to that of the first segment ; in other cases the union is by a short stem, or petiole, consisting of a trumpet-shaped tube : the abdomen is sessile in the former case, and pe- tiolated in the latter. The rings or segments are united to each other in two ways : by the first; the inferior and middle parts are joined or soldered together, leaving the sides and dorsal portions only free; by the second way, there is no soldering of parts, but the rings aro supported by overlapping each other, and may slide into each other like the pieces of a telescope. In the former mode, motion is restricted, while the greatest freedom exists in the latter. The segments are lined by a membrane, but it is scarcely visible except in the ease of a gravid female, when it is seen distended like a bag. The abdomen, being comparatively free, is well fitted ta sustain the function of respira- tion. To this end, each segment or ring is furnished with an opening for the transmission of air, which penetrates thence in appropriate vessels throughout the whole body. These openings are surrounded by rings, and are usually denominated spiracles. As the abdomen is devoted to digestion, and is also the cavity in which the generative organs are lodged, it DESCRIPTION OF PARTS. 13 * is necessary that it should be well supplied with air or oxygen : hence each segment has a pair of spiracles, which are capable of inhaling a large amount of this essential element. The external orifices are often protected by hairs, which shut over them, and thus serve to exclude foreign matters, while the air permeates freely into the interior of the body. Besides the digestive organs, and a portion of the respiratory apparatus, the abdomen e»ntains the genital organs, the piercer and sting of females. The piercer is a flexible jointed tube, and is used to puncture trees or other bodies for the purpose of depositing the eggs. It varies in length and form, and is fitted to perform its office according to the instinct of the animal to which it belongs. I have now deseribed, in as few words as possible, the most essential external parts of insects ; those parts which are particularly employed in the description of genera and species, as well as those used in general classification. From these parts the student will be able to form a correct notion of the extent of this class of animals; but there are yet other portions, occupying the interior of the insect’s body, which are important for us to study, inasmuch as they will yield information in regard to the economy of this interesting class which will be of essential service. I refer to the digestive, circulatory, and nervous systems. If the external forms of insects are curious and interesting, the student will find that the apparatus for carrying on the foregoing functions is still more so. There is espe- cially one curious fact particularly worthy of notice in relation to the digestive apparatus : it is this, that the secretory organs are reduced to the simplest form, that of tubes; from which we learn that nature requires no special form of instrument for the performance of a given function. All the essentials of a digestive apparatus, which belong to the higher classes of animals, are found in the insect. Some interesting differences, it is true, exist ; still when it is con- sidered that the food of insects does not really differ from that of other animals, we may of course expect to find the digestive organs essentially the same in kind. As insects subsist upon various kinds of food, some upon vegetables, others upon the elaborated juices of animals or upon flesh, so we find similar variations in the form and proportion of the organs as exist among the higher animals. The vegetable feeder has a larger and more capacious digestive apparatus than the carnivorous insect, nature always adapting her means to the end. The function of digestion in insects, as in all other animals, is performed through the instrumentality of an alimentary canal. Our first object will be to describe this apparatus: The function itself involves the existence of two kinds of apparatus : the parts through which the food must pass; and the parts which supply the special fluids essential to effect certain changes in the food before it can become aliment or nutrient matter. Beginning with the description of, the first kind of apparatus, namely, the organ or organs through which the food passes during the process of digestion, we may regard this apparatus as a . canal open at each extremity, with an enlargement or dilatation more or less in its central portion ; whence it is dit ,and becomes tubular and folded repeatedly upon itself, increasing thereby in until in some insthnces it is many times the length of the body. Differént portions of this canal have received different appellations, as is highly proper, from the fact that certain of its parts perform functions of a modified character, although all contributing to one general result. In this division of parts, comparative anatomists have employed the same names that have long been in use in the anatomy of the higher animals, as the following enumeration will show, to wit: the pharynx, asophagus, crop, gizzard, stomach or chylific ventricle, small intestines, caecum and rectum. The pharynx is the anterior portion or beginning of the canal. The cavity of the mouth opens into it, and it is an aperture more or less enlarged : it is, however, better developed in those insects which masticate their food, the mandibulated class. Indeed it is regarded as having no existence except in this class; for in the suctorial insect, the next part, or esophagus, is in direct continuity with the haustella or sucking tube, which is connected with it by two distinet tubes. - The esophagus, commonly known as the guélet, is a tube connecting the pharynx with neinhat first enlargement of the intestinal canal. It passes directly through the thorax and constricted part of the insect, terminating in the abdomen in the erop. It is variable in length : it may form one-half the length of the canal, while in other instances it is less than one-sixth of such length. It has a peculiarity which has already been alluded to : its bifurcation anteriorly in the lepidoptera, each spiral sucking tube extending its branch to it just behind the head. . The esophagus is connected in the first place with the crop, an enlargement having a close analogy in position and form with the crop of a bird. It is also called a stomach by some writers on entomology. It is sometimes placed on a line with the esophagus, when it appears as a simple enlargement of the tube; in other instances it is placed on one side, and then appears more like a sac connected with the esophagus by a short canal, and serving as a kind of reservoir; or, in other words, more analogous to the erop of birds*. In certain beetles, as the Cicindela, the organ is provided with a glandular apparatus, which secretes an abundant and active juice to soften and otherwise change the food deposited in it. In the hemiptera it is remarkably modified in function : it loses its importance as a depository of food, and becomes a part of a pumping apparatus ; whence it has been called a sucking stomach. The insect in this case has the power of distending the sac, and thereby *Tt is proper in this place to notice the fact, that while there are namerons variations in the form and length of the alimentary canal of insects, there are two modifications that should be particularly spoken of, namely ; the bot-fly has no opening at all answering to the mouth and pharynx, and hence can take no nourishment; and in the larva of the wasp and bee, the rectum fs closed, and hence their economy docs not require tlie evacuation of ex. ecrementitious matter. DESCRIPTION OF PARTS. 15 rarifying the air in its interior ; in consequence of which, fluids rise in it as in a pump. We have in this case an instance of a modification of an organ of the simplest kind, by which, however, the entire function is changed; passing from a digestive function to a transferring one, or one more immediately subservient to the mouth. The gizzard is the next organ, and may be distinguished from the crop by its peculiar apparatus for mastication : its internal surface is studded “ with teeth or spines, or horny ridges ;” the organ, therefore, is eminently fitted for performing a perfect comminution of the matters received into it. It completes, in this respect, what has been performed but imperfectly. It performs a function somewhat analogous to that of rumination in the herbivora. All the insects which feed upon hard substances, those which might be regarded as nearly indigestible, are provided with a strong muscular gizzard, furnished with a masticating apparatus. ; The stomach, or that part in which we first observe the food reduced to a pulpy mass, and first exhibiting a chylous appearance, is bounded above by the gizzard, and below by. a constricted portion of the canal, which receives a bundle of vessels that give it an ana- logy to the liver of vertebrated animals, and in fact it is strictly the hepatic organ of in- sects. The stomach is of an oval shape, or an elongated oval : it has been denominated the chylific ventricle by M. Leon Duvour. Its capacity is considerable : its surface is lined by a mucous membrane, and it is sometimes studded over with little mucous cysts or bags, which secrete a solvent fluid similar in composition and use to the gastric fluid of the higher animals. The organ, in order to inerease the extent of surface, is frequently con- stricted, and also twisted upon itself, so as to form many circumvolutions, and hence it is quite variable in shape in the different orders of insects : its inner surface, however, is always villous. From the stomach outwards or downward, the canal becomes narrower, or passes along with a diminished calibre ; but as there are still enlargements or dilatations in its course, anatomists speak of a duodenum, ileum, cecum, colon and rectum. But this is regarded by many as an unnecessary multiplication of names, inasmuch as it is extremely difficult to recognize the parts which are thus designated. The beginning of this part of the canal, however, is indicated by a constriction and the existence of a sphineter muscle, as well as by the junction below of the hepatie vessels. The tube is generally short, rarely exceeding the length of the body :; sometimes it is inflated into an ovoid sae rather abruptly. In following out the distinction of parts in the intestinal canal, we may recognize the existence of a colon, or what corresponds to the large intestines of the higher animals, by the character of the alimentary ball; for the food, after having passed the stomach and through the narrowed part of the canal posterior to the stomach, loses its viscidity, and becomes more or less dry and compacted into the form of an excrement, showing by its condition that the nutrient matter has been extracted from it. Here is also a valve to guard 16 FUNCTION OF DIGESTION. the passage of the canal, which it closes to prevent the backward movement of the digested mass. The segment as the ewcum is short, and in direct communication with the anterior tube ; | cases it seems as if joined laterally to it, and then it has the appearance of a pouch. Fluids are supposed to be secreted by warty excrescences situated upon the mucous face of this intestine, designed to uid in the digestive process. The rectum is that part of the large intestines which terminates the alimentary canal below : it is always short, and is furnished with a sphineter at its extremity. It is mus- oular, has thicker walls than the cwcum, and gives shape and form to the excrements. The function of digestion requires, in addition to the formal tube through which the parent matter must pass, a supply of certain fluids which shall possess a solvent power upon the contained mass ; and more than one kind of fluid seems to be necessary. Though these different fluids agree in use and effect with analogous ones found in the higher ani- mals, the organs which secrete them have a very different form : indeed, the difference is so great, that a student whose views of the function of digestion have been obtained solely from the observation of the organs of a vertebrate animal would not at first recognize the parts which perform similar functions in insects. ; The secretory organs, and those which are subservient to digestion, are always tubular in insects : the gland or parenchyma present in quadrupeds being entirely absent in in- sects, these organs are reduced to their simplest form. The kinds of tubes taking their names according to the nature of the fluid secreted, are the salivary, biliery, and urinary. The salivary apparatus is quite complicated : it consists of tubes, single and double, and even triple, situated around the esophagus and mouth, and provided with bags that serve as reservoirs. The tubes open into the mouth or esophagus by two or more exeretory orifices. The salivary apparatus is most perfect in the haustellata or sucking inseets; the tubes ascending into the abovenamed cavities in a meandering course, whereby the extent of secreting surface is much increased. The operation of salivation is an important preliminary to digestion : mixed with the food, the saliva serves to soften its consistence, while it also carries along with it much air which appears to be necessary for some purpose in the economy. The bile is a still more im t fluid than the saliva : it is secreted in long capillary tubes, more or less flexuose and folded upon themselves, which connect with the alimentary tube below the stomach, or just behind the pylorus ; though they sometimes continue farther down, and enter near the ca#cum. These tubes vary in number : there are usually two, especially in coleoptera, hemiptera and diptera; but in these orders they are not absolutely uniform, as in the cerambycidwe there are three, and four in some diptera, while in neuroptera there are six, and in certain neuropterous groups as many as eight. Where the number of the tubes varies, however, it operates as a compensation for their length : for example, if the simple tubes are each five or six times the length of the body, their number is less; but when FUNCTION OF DIGESTION. 17 they are short, their number is proportionally increased. Although these hepatic tubes are generally quite uniform in diameter, there are some deviations from the rule ; but it is perhaps unnecessary to describe particularly the few modifications that are known to oceur. The function of these tubes, as has been intimated, is to secrete or prepare a fluid analogous to bile. They may be recognized in the caterpillar, when the abdomen is opened, by their position, and by their white vermiform appearance : they float apparently loosely in the cavity of the abdomen. Among the secretions mentioned is the urinary, which seems to be far less constant than those already described. When the urinary organs are present, they terminate in the ree- tum : they have been found in certain carnivorous coleoptera. The fluid which has been called the urine in insects, is caustic and odorous : it is often discharged by the carabici, on handling them, in jets, which, when falling upon the skin, occasion a transitory burning. In connection with this secretion, may be noticed that peculiar to the bombardiers, which is discharged in explosive jets, and is supposed to be intended as a means of defence. The name of the genus possessing the power of producing explosive jets of fluid, is Brachinus. I am not aware of the fact, if it has been ascertained, that this fluid is similar in composi- tion to that of the higher animals, or that it contains urea. In concluding our remarks on digestion in insects, we may observe that the function is performed in ways quite as numerous as in the higher orders of animals, though there is no departure from the general principles which prevail in the vertebrate and molluscous types. There is always an apparatus for trituration, or mechanical separation of the food into fine parts : it is thereby prepared for the action of the several fluids which concur in the digestive process, and which exercise some peculiar chemical influence that serves to separate the nutrient matter from the useless portion of the food. These fluids are more or less acrid in their nature : thus the saliva injected into the wound made by a flea or a fly, for example, by the ¢abanus, occasions inflammation and itching ; and this irritation is designed to favor the insect, inasmuch as it produces a flow of blood to the wounded part. An effect of saliva is seen upon leaves attacked by the caterpillar, which very soon suffer a loss of color; and as the morsel swallowed passes along from one receptacle to another, it is constantly undergoing changes : it is softened in the crop ; in the gizzard, it becomes pulpy ; and in the true stomach the chyle is formed, and is at once recognized by the globules it contains. A controversy has been long maintained respecting the office of those tubes which have been called hepatic or biliary. Some eminent physiologists have regarded them as urinary, inasmuch as uric acid is sometimes found in them; but as this is not always the case, a compromise seems to have been made by regarding them as both biliary and urinary, and giving them a corresponding denomination wrino-biliary. The circumstance that the same tubes which have since been found sometimes to contain urine were regarded as biliary { Acricutturat Report — Vor. v.] 3 18 CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. tubes by the older and physiologists, is accordant with known facts in the economy of the lower among which it is common for an organ to perform a double function. * ele The food in t canal of insects is moved along by a peristaltic motion : the canal, the lied with a muscular apparatus. Indeed, from the phenomena exhibited, we that the apparatus has a construction and parts such as have place in quadru : thus the coats of the alimentary canal are three, a mucous, a cellu- lar, and a muscular coat; the first being the internal one, the muscular the outside, and the cellular in the middle. The mucous coat is thin, often transparent, and difficult to detect. The muscular coat is perfectly developed : its fibres are both longitudinal and circular ; and where the constrictions peculiar to the tube exist, there it is more perfectly developed, or in greater force. These muscles serve partly as sphincters, and also to keep up a continual movement. Crmcunation. Insects are furnished with a circulatory apparatus ; it consists of a dorsal vessel, which, as its name indicates, is a tube running beneath the dorsal face of the ex- ternal covering. This is the central organ, and is equivalent to the heart in the higher orders of animals; and the circulation is continued from the dorsal vessel, in channels — excavated in the tissues, The structure of the dorsal vessel permits the blood to flow from the posterior to the anterior part of the animal, by means of a series of valves opening forwards. The blood is transmitted to the thorax and head, the wings and legs, and returns through certain channels denominated veins, which open into the dorsal at different points through the valves; but the larger portion of the returned fluid collects in the posterior chamber, and passes the whole length of the vessel. The vessel has been, and still is, re- ~ garded by some physiologists as analogous to the heart : others, however, consider it as more analogous to the aorta of quadrupeds. It does not seem to be a matter of much importance whether we regard the so-called dorsal vessel a heart, an aorta, or an organ compounded of both, the posterior segment taking more especially the form and function of an aortic vessel. Its visible contractions, as seen through the transparent covering of many insects, furnish ostensibly valid reasons for regarding it a heart. The fluids which cireulate in the vascular system of insects are usually white, carrying along distinct corpuscules having forms like those which are found in the higher and more perfect animals. In connection with the foregoing facts, it should also be stated that the circulation in insects is carried on in vessels having close proximity with those of another kind, namely, the air-vessels, or trachea. The two classes are easily distinguished from each other by the structure of the latter ; for in order that air may traverse the insect system, it is necessary CIRCULATORY AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS. 19 that its conducting vessels be maintained in a tubular form : this is effeeted by means of a spiral elastic thread wound closely upon itself. By this means the vessels are prevented from collapsing, the air enters freely at the sides of the insect, and permeates perfectly the whole system. The air, then, is constantly in contact with the thin membrane intervening between the trachea and those vessels which transmit the blood to the different parts of the insect’s body and extremities. Recent observations prove, in regard to the relations of blood and air, that the former moves through the space between the outer and inner membranes, in which a spiral filament winds, so as to bathe the exterior of the air-tubes themselves*. It would therefore seem that there is in insects a most complex system of spiral vessels or air-tubes, in connection and close relation with the,vascular system, both being dis- tributed with the greatest minuteness throughout the whole body. There is still another provision for keeping up a supply of air especially in those inseets whose flight is rapid, and requires to be Jong sustained : it is found in the air-sacs that are distributed in dif- ferent parts of the body; they serve not only to retain a due supply of air, but also to buoy up the body and render it lighter. The pulmonary system, by a combination of elastic tubes and sacs, receives an extraordinary development, so as to compensate in the most perfect manner for the deficiencies resulting from a less perfect form of circulation ; for powerful museular motion requires a rich supply of oxygen, rather than food, in order to give energy and activity to the muscular system. From these facts, it appears that insects occupy no mean place in the scale of being, when they are ranked according to the development of their cireulatory apparatus and the accompanying tracheal system. This combination, so far as the power of muscular motion is concerned in the estimate, serves to elevate the fhsect to a rank but little below that of the vertebrate class. Nervous system. The nervous system consists of a pair of chords extending through the insect, upon the interior abdominal face,and connected at each segment by a ganglion. Thus disposed along the ventral face of the body, the nervous system forms a symmetrical whole. The ganglionic masses of the head, however, are more largely developed than those of the trunk : this is necessary, from the condition of the eyes and the perfection of the masticating apparatus. The cephalic centres are placed also above the esophagus. So the nervous centres which supply the wings and legs are larger than those of the abdomen. We see here again a provision for the locomotive apparatus, by which a due supply of nervous power or force is secured. There are probably but few instances in the animal kingdom, that exhibit such minute * See Canrentér, p. 382 of his General and Comparative Physiology. 20 NERVOUS SYSTEM; SENSE OF TOUCH. subdivisions of matter as certain portions of the nervous system do. Thus when it is stated for the first time in our hearing, that the eye of the common house-fly is compounded of no less than 4000 single eyes, it seems impossible that a nerve, originally microscopic, can be subdivided into threads or fibres sufficiently fine to furnish a nerve to each simple eye; and when we are further informed that the eye of the dragon-fly has (24,000) six times as many subdivisions as that of the house-fly, our faith is still more severely taxed ; but to suppose that a filament is wanting in an eye, is to suppose that the eye is made in vain; for the eye depends upon its nervous filament, however slender that may be, for its power of vision. The sympathetic system of nerves in insects has been known from the days of Swam- s“enpam, who first discovered it in the rhinoceros beetle. While this system is found more or less perfect in all articulated animals, it is specially perfected in insects. The imperfee- tion.of the nervous apparatus consists in the absence of the cerebral masses, or of all that portion concerned in the formation of ideas. Nothing appears in the nervous system of the articulata, higher or above the ganglionic centres which connect together the double ventral chord. The ganglia of this system which are more particularly devoted to the purely animal functions, undergo a slight change during the passage from the larval state to that of the perfect insect ; the change consisting chiefly in a concentration of nervous matter upon those ganglia which are subservient to the function of locomotion. The sym- pathetic system, however, undergoes no change : it is equally perfect in the larva as in the mature animal, and reaches its full development in this early stage of existence, there- by showing that it presides over the functions of vegetative life. It is scarcely necessary to speak more particularly of the functions of the nervous system. It may, however, be observed, that it is upon this system that sensation depends, and the nervous fibrils are the channels through which the properties of external bodies become known to the individual. If we may judge of causes by effects, we are warranted in believing that impressions are received by insects from without, in the same manner as is the case with the higher animals; and that they possess all those special senses which belong to the latter, and some of them in much greater perfection. Towen. The sense of touch in insects, in consequence of the hard covering of their bodies, must be confined to certain parts. Those who have watched their motions are fully convinced that the palpi are the organs in which this sense is concentrated, or in which it exists in its greatest perfection. These organs are constantly applied by the insect, after the manner of feelers, to the external bodies with which it comes in proximity ; and they are well adapted by their structure to fulfil such a purpose, being flexible, and furnished with a soft and delicate integument. FUNCTIONS OF HEARING, TASTING, SMELLING, AND SEEING. 21 Hearinc. The phenomena which indicate the existence of the sense of hearing are perhaps more equivocal than those of touch. Still attentive observers have noticed that insects seem to place themselves in an attitude of listening, when loud sounds are emitted from any quarter in their vicinity : they erect their antenne, and remain motionless for the time being ; and when the disturbance has ceased to excite them, they resume their ordinary movements. From the position of the antenne, then, under the circumstances alluded to, it is inferred that they are connected directly with the function of hearing. Beneath them is a nerve connected with a soft membrane, which seems to be adapted to this special end. The antenne in themselves extending outwardly, must become sensible of the vibrations in the air, and transmit them to this delicate auditory apparatus lying immediately beneath. The organs are often long-branched, or plumose, so as to increase the extent of surface. This view of the office of the antenne does not conflict with the one often entertained, namely, that they may also be useful and employed as organs of touch. Taste. The existence of this sense rests more upon analogy, than upon well determined facts to support and prove its existence. Smexv. Insects are attracted to odorous bodies from a distance : hence there can be no doubt that they are possessed of the sense of smell in great perfection, although its precise location is a matter of great uncertainty. Several different parts of the insect’s body ha¥e been conjecturally assumed as the seat of this sense ; and it has often been assigned to parts that are variable, evanescent, or of occasional existence only. If analogical reasoning were to be our guide in this ease, we should point to certain inward parts of the body that are in direct relation with the external air. In the mammalia, though the organ of smell is located in the head, yet its distinguishing characteristic is its immediate communication with the atmosphere, and the sense itself is exercised only when the air is inhaled. It is not necessary to infer, that because in the higher animal it holds this intimate relation to the head, that it must oceupy the same place in the insect : it is more consistent to suppose that its closest relation is with the respiratory organs. It is highly probable, therefore, that the trachea and spiral vessels, which conduct the air inwards, constitute the channels by which this sense is furnished with the odorous particles on which the sensuous nerve is to operate. Accordingly this view is looked upon with favor by Cuvrer and many other dis- tinguished physiologists. Sicur. Of all the senses, that of sight seems to be the most perfect in insects. The organ is compound, or, in other words, consists of many eyes comparted together, each of which is perfect in itself, being furnished with the proper humors and lenses essential to the exercise of vision. In addition to the compound eye, which often occupies the largest portion of the head, they are often furnished with simple eyes upon the forehead : these , 2 FUNCTION OF VISION. have received the names of ocelli and stemmata, and are generally three in number, and arranged in the form of a triangle ; but there may be but two, or only one, Their structure qualifies them for viewing such objects only as are close at hand. The compound eye presents a reticulated appearance under the microscope : the surface is convex or globular; but the organ is immovable, except by the motion of the head. The reticulated appearance is produced by the lines that mark the boundary of each eye or lens : these are hexagonal, and their number is almost incredibly great in some species. They vary in this respect from 50 in the ant, to 25,000 in a species of Mordella : the butterfly has 17,000, and the dragonfly 12,544. Each eye is furnished with an apparatus sufficiently perfect for the exercise of vision in its sphere ; it has its lens for refraction, its choroid for the correction of aberration, and its retina for the reception of the images of external objects. Each single eye, however, must embrace an extremely limited field of vision, and there is no doubt that it requires the use of many of these eyes to see a single object ; for only those rays of light that fall perpendicularly upon the eye can reach the optic nerve. The eyes of predaceous insects, such as the dragonfly, are large, prominent and globular : hence they enjoy, altogether, a large field of vision. In those insects, on the other hand, which are confined in their range, or are parasitic, the field of view is diminished by a reverse of circumstances. The nerve of each eye terminates in a common nerve : this must be regarded as the sensorium commune, the nervous plane upon which the image of an object is spread. Some- times the eye is pedunculated, or placed upon a footstalk : sometimes it is semicireular, in consequence of the implantation of the antennw, and indeed this implantation may be such as to give the semblance of four eyes. In other instances the size of the eye is a sexual mark. P We are too much in the habit of looking vaguely upon the insect tribes. While we recognize the movements of the vertebrated class as resulting from distinet acts of the will, ” and as controlled by internal feelings, we are little disposed to entertain the view that the apparatus of a fly or a beetle indicates similar internal motives for action ; or, in other words, we do not possess so lively a sense of the perfection of the being of the insect, as of the being of the higher order. We see, however, that insects have eyes to see, ears to hear, and organs of smell ; a highly developed nervous apparatus, and an active cireula- tion : in fine, the insect moves in a world of its own, which takes no part in the sphere belonging to the mollusea or vertebrata. Its senses and organs of animal life, however, give it a wide sphere of activity, and have prepared it for fulfilling important functions, and furnished it with a capability to affect very materially the interests of man. Being widely diffused, and their life overflowing with activity, always moving as if impelled forward by important business or engaged in errands of the most momentous character, they seem to FUNCTION OF MOTION. 23 make the most of their brief and uncertain existence. Witness the energy of the dung- beetle in finishing the ball in which it has deposited its egg : it often dies in the act of providing for the continuance of the life of its kind. To some these actions may seem less interesting, because instinctive ; but surely the faculty of instinct affords matter for deep thought to the ordinary observer, and to the philosopher it must possess an interest next to that of reason itself. Instinct urges the individual forward to the fulfilment of its destiny, but it makes no inquiry as to the cost. Muscunar motion. The insect enjoys a full development of the power of motion, especially.in its perfect state : the two kinds of muscle, striated and non-striated, are al- ways present. Every part of the system is supplied with muscular fibres ; not only are the legs and wings largely supplied with them, but also the abdomen and various parts of the trunk, head, and thorax. The most interesting fact which appears in this connexion, is the power of the insect to sustain a long and vigorous flight : thus the dragonfly darts for- wards, backwards, or sideways, and is able to outstrip the swallow in its most rapid course ; and this it can do for hours together. Taking into consideration the diminutive size of insects, we readily see, that in proportionate locomotive power, they far excel the verte- brate animal. We have already observed that their joints usually admit of but two kinds of motion, forwards and backwards, or the ginglimus movement : when, however, this motion is exerted in extension and flexion, as in the leaping of the grasshopper or flea, we cannot fail to perceive that their powers in this respect, also as in flying, are far superior to those possessed by any other class of animals. Though the larval state of insects is generally sluggish, we are not without many examples where there is a great degree of activity. Wesoften see the caterpillar hurrying along as if it were in great haste, though the space it is able to traverse is quite limited. We observe, in all these movements, an aim to preserve life : the life of self, however, is subordinate to that of kind or progeny. Propacation. Insects propagate their kinds from eggs laid by the female, subsequent to the act of congress with the male : the sexes are therefore distinct. Their power of multiplication is immense, especially in those insects which produce several broods in a season. But there is a remarkable exception to the foregoing rule : the aphis increases by a process of gemmation ; females being cast off at once for several generations, of which each possesses the power of multiplying its kind in the same way. Carpenter likens it to the gemmation of the polypi, “the individuals being budded off from internal stolons, instead of being developed from ova provided by the female and fertilized by the male.” It has long been known, that in the aphis, this method of propagation is repeated to the seventh or ninth generation. At the end of the season, the perfect individuals, both male 24 FUNCTION OF PROPAGATION. and female in a winged state, are produced, by the congress of which ova are fertilized : these are preserved through the winter. It would seem from this, that although in the articulated class budding is resorted to to multiply the number of individuals, yet it is not adequate to continue the existence of the species. Calculations have been made of the numbers which an aphis may produce in a single season, provided the individuals are not destroyed by accident. According then to calculation, based upon observed facts, the whole brood in a season from a single aphis will amount to the inconceivable number of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000! From such an ability to increase, we should at first thought be disposed to expect a result approaching the calculated numbers ; but it is gratifying to observe, that where the powers ef increase are extended and multiplied as in the ease of the aphis, the destructive powers are equally multiplied and active : there is therefore but little reason to fear an excessively injurious multiplication in the midst of so many enemies. The aphis is extremely feeble : the touch destroys it; the winds, rains, and cold sweep off its numbers by hundreds of thousands. The excessive multiplication of individuals is only a means of supplying an increased number of consumers : hence instead of an approach to the enormous number indicated by calculation, their actual numbers will fall infinitely short of it. The balance of nature is always preserved ; and wherever danger seems to point, there checks are provided, which pat an effectual restraint upon inordinate increase. We may conceive of what is possible; but the actual jyst suffices to keep up a suitable equilibrium : at most the threatening is transient, and recurs only at wide intervals. EXPLANATION OF .ANATOMICAL PLATES. 25 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II. DESCRIPTION AND REPRESENTATION OF PARTS OF SUCH INSECTS AS ARE REFERRED TO IN THE FOLLOWING TREATISE. ( Copied mostly from the Naturalist’s Library.) I. PARTS OF THE HEAD, MOUTH, &.—PLATE A. Fig. 1. Head, upper side : a, forehead ; b, vertex ; c, occiput; dd, temples ; ee, eyes; f, torulus, the cavity for the insertion of the antenne ; g, clypeus ; 4, labrum. Fig. 2. Under side of the head : k, posterior orifice ; 7, neck ; m, mentum ; 0, eyes; p, mandibles ; s, labial palpi. Figs. 3, 4, 5. Forms of the labrum. Fig. 5. Mandible of Hydrus piceus. Fig. 7. Mandible of Gerius. Fig. 8. Mandible of Calosoma sycophanta. Fig. 9. Maxilla of Necrophorus germanicus : a, maxillary palpus ; ), external lobe of the maxilla ; c, internal lobe. Fig. 10. Maxilla of Cicindela : a, external maxillary palpus ; 4, internal ditto ; c, interior lobe, with an articulated hook at the apex d. Fig. 11. Form of the maxilla of Hydrus piceus : a, insertion or hinge ; b, dorsal piece ; c, squame- palpifers of Srravuss : bcd form the stalk (stipes) ; e, external lobe ; f, internal ditto. Fig. 12. Labium of Cychrus rostratus : a, mentum ; }, ligula; ¢, labial palpi. Fig. 18. Labium of Carubus, inside : a, mentum ; 4, lingua; c, paraglossa. Fig. 14. Thorax of Scolia flavifrons, showing in succession the prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax, also the cox : A, pronotum ; C, mesonotum ; F, metanotum; HH, parapleura ; c, scutel- lum ; dd, patagia. Fig. 15. Side view of the thorax of Scolia flavifrons : B, mesosternum; B, prosternum; G, meta- sternum ; d, patagium ; c. seutellum ; a, first spiracle ; b, second ditto. Fig. 16. View of the same from beneath : BB, prosternum ; EE, mesosternum ; GG, metasternum. Fig. 17. Thorax of Cicada fraxini : A, pronotum; Cc, mesonotum; FF, metanotum; c, seutellum ; dd, frenum. Fig. 18. Hindleg of Me/olontha vulgaris : ab, coxa; d, trochanter; e, thigh; f, tibia; /, tarsus ; 2, claws. Fig. 19.. Pectinated claws. [ AcricutturAL Report — Vot. v.] 4 26 EXPLANATION OF ANATOMICAL PLATES. Fig. 20. Claws of Asilus : 0, central filaments; 4s, membranous expansion of the terminal joint, ad- vanced beneath the claws. Figs. 25, 26 : showing the upper and under side of the domestic cricket (Acheta arachnoidea). Fig. 27. Maxillary palpi (4c) of the cricket ; 4, galea. Fig. 28. Lower lip of the cricket : a, mentum; d, labium; ¢, additional articulations, divided into two, three, or more lobes ; cc, apparently 3-jointed palpi, yet the basal joint enveloped or concealod in the lip. Fig. 29. Mandibles of the grasshopper (Acrydéum) : 6, molar plate. Fig. 30. Mandibles of the cricket. Figs. 31, 32° Forms of antennm. 4 Fig. 83. Serrated antennm. Fig. 34, Lamelliform antennm. Fig. 35. Pectinated antennw ; bipectinated, if it produces two long teeth, instead of one ; and flabel- late, when the branches are very long, and flattened like the rays of a fan. Fig. 41. Sctaccous antennw : filiform, when the antenne are of unequal thickness ; moniliform, as in fig. 42; ensiform, when tapering, and angulated at the sides; subulate, when short, and pointed at the tip; fusiform, when narrowed at the two extremities and thickened in the centre, as in fig. 48; clavate, when they gradually thicken at the top, as in 37 and 35; geniculate, when bent as in 39 abc; capitate, when terminated in a knob or head, as 36, plumose, when the lateral filaments go off from a shaft, like those of a feather ; nodose, when the joints are thickened in various parts like knobs ; verticillate, when whorls of hairs . are placed at equal distances upon the joints; fasciculate, when the hairs are gathered in bundles upon each joint; scopiferous, when a single bundle is placed upon one joint ; palinate, when the antennw are short, broad, and divided by deep divisions ; auriculate, when one of the basal joints is dilated into a shield or car partially covering the rest ; fissile, when they are terminated by a cleft knob ; ramose, when several of the joints throw out branches ; furcate, when thore are two branches like a fork ; aristate, when the antennae are terminated by a fine bristle, as in the order Musca ; dentate, when the joints are armed with short spines; cylindrical, when they are of equal-diameter throughout ; prismatic, when they resemble a prism, or are formed of three sides. Il. PARTS OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS.— PLATE B. Figs. 2, 3. a shows the esophagus, beginning in fig. 3 just behind the bead, and terminating in an en- largemont which is the crop; or, if the crop is absent, it terminates in the gizzard d. The esophagus is a simple tube, except in the lepidoptera. Fig. 4 ¢ represents the position and relation uf what has been denominated a sucking stomach. The gizzard is shown in position, fig. 2 c. The true stomach, or, as called by some entomologists, the chylific ventricle, is seen in figs. 2 & 3d : in this organ the food becomes semifluid or pulpy, and remains until chylification takes place, The intestine begins as represented in fig. 3, whore the lateral tubes are inserted : it preserves a course more or less contorted, as is seen at f; and in some instances it is enlarged or inflated, as at ¢. The cwcum is seen at g fig. 2. Fig Fig EXPLANATION OF ANATOMICAL PLATES. 27 . 8 h exhibits the termination of the intestinal canal in the rectum. . 5 aa exhibits the salivary apparatus, having fleshy organs at the base of the head, and tubes that pour saliva into the mouth during mastication. Fig. 4 aa. General arrangement of the urinary organs, the secreting vessels disposed on the tops of Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. F S Fig small tranches ; cd, the bladder; }, deferential canal. 1 represents an arrangement that exists among the bombardiers : a, accessory bladder ; c, principal bladder. 6 exhibits the biliary organs cc, fringed as in the cockchafer. Ill. CIRCULATORY SYSTEM.— PLATE B. 13 : aaa, dorsal vessel ; 6, wings ; cd, diminution in diameter towards the head. 14 shows the interior walls of the dorsal vessel, circular fibres, arrangement of its walls, and the valves. IV. RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.— PLATE B 12. Spiracles or stigmata. 9. Another form of stigmata. 16. Stigmata of Dytiscus marginalis, edges of which are beset with hairs. 15. Stigmata of the cockchafer, where there is a membrane drilled with holes. 8. A circular membrane stretched over the valves, and ornamented with colors. 17 shows the rows of stigmata along the sides. 10 exhibits the system of the trachea or air-vessels : aa, stigmata ; bb, ventral spiracles ; cc, trunks closed at their extremities ; ee, bladder-like bag, receiving the longitudinal trachea ; Fff, trachea for the wings; gg & hh, bags for air; *, trachea for the thorax ; 27, trachea for the head ; 0, base of the tegmina. +V. NERVOUS SYSTEM.— PLATES B & E. 2 (Pl. B), gAzl/, exhibits the principal ventral chord, with its ganglia. 2(PI1. E). Nervous chord of the cockchafer : 11, lobes of the anterior cephalic ganglion; aa, optic nerves ; bb, eyes; 2, posterior cephalic ganglion ; 3, prothoracic ganglion ; 4, meso- thoracic ganglion; 5, metathoracie ganglion; 6, ganglion of the abdominal series ; dd, mandibular nerves ; cc, antennze. . 1. Nervous system of the caterpillar of the Sphinx ligustri, a few days before it becomes a chry- salis : 1, cerebral ganglion ; 2, posterior ditto; 3, 4, 5, 6, thoracic ganglia ; 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, abdominal ganglia; 000, system of transverse nerves, more distinet in fig. 3, in which 3 4 5 represent the three thoracic ganglia ; aa, central nervous fillet ; 244), nerves furnished by the fillet ; ecee, nervous threads separating from the preceding nerves, and which, by uniting when they reach the ganglion, constitute the central thread. . 3. Nervous system of Sphinx ligustri thirty days after its change, showing a greater condensation of the nervous masses : the posterior thoracic ganglia are now united into one mass. > 28 EXPLANATION OF ANATOMICAL PLATES. Vi. GENERATIVE APPARATUS.— PLATE E. Fig. 8. Generative organs of Athalia centifolia : aa, ovarial tubes; cc, uterine cavities ; d, seperate oviducts ; ¢, ejaculatory oviduct ; f, spermatheca ; g, poison gland ; A, its vessel; 10,11, terminal Pig. 7. Generative organs of Ranatra linearis : the letters correspond to the same parts as in fig. 8; g, supposed swimming bladder, with part of the intestine. Fig. 5. Male organs of Athalia centifolia : aa, smaller testes ; bd, ducts; ¢, larger testis ; dd, vasa deferentia ; ¢, vesicula seminales; A, ejaculatory duct ; é, exterior valves. Fig. 9. Hydrus piceus ; aa, testes; bd, vasa deferentia ; cc, prin@ipal seminal vessels ; ecee, various accessory vessels ; f, ejaculatory duct ; g, copulative armature of the vagina. Fig. 4. Testicles of Silpha obscura, greatly magnified. CHAPTER III. REMARKS ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. Tue multiplication of species renders it necessary to resort to some kind of arrangement, by which they may be gathered into groups under one or more common characteristics. It matters not which of the kingdoms of nature we enter, if the individuals are dispersed singly or unarranged into families or groups, no one can hope to possess himself of an idea of their relations. Memory would be too much burthened in the attempt to comprehend the relations, or retain the characteristics of the species which belong to a single district of the globe. Hence the necessity for devising some scheme by which we may group to- gether those which are alike, and to which we may apply a positive expression indicative of that likeness. There is perhaps nothing easier than to say on what general principle such a scheme should be based ; for it is plain enough that resemblance must be the basis of all schemes, and indeed ever has been since attempts at classification have been made. Classification is founded on resemblance ; and yet there are so many points of resemblance, that it becomes necessary to make a choice. It is evident that the resemblances in the mineral kingdom are not those of the vegetable or animal, and those of the vegetable kingdom are yet in- applicable to the animal. This, however, is not the difficulty : taking each kingdom by itself, and selecting from among its individual members certain characters which belong to the many, they fail us in attempting to make a general application of them ; they either cease to exist, or else possess an importance so variable or inconsiderable that they become uncertain as marks suitable to be employed in classification. There are two kinds of resemblances in the natural world : there are morphological and teleological resemblances. In the first we seek for external forms ; in the second, we look for ends. The wings of a bird, of a bat, and of an insect, possess a teleological re- semblance, but not a morphological one : the end, or final cause, is the same; but the form, arising from structure, is quite different. It can be scarcely possible that final causes or teleological resemblances should be available in classification, although they may be useful in many other respects ; and we may remark here that it is only by an attentive study of morphology that a true basis for classification can be found, and all the schemes that have been successfully applied belong to this kind. Availing ourselves of the principles - ~ 30 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. found in forms, we may proceed with a degree of certainty ; and when forms are correctly defined, we may escape most of the graver errors in the formation of groups. I do hot propose to enter into the details of the principles of classification in this place, but shall proceed at once to the modes which have been proposed and followed by the principal English entomologists. The first classification is that of Srermens, in which the first grand division of the insect kingdom is into two subclasses : FIRST SUBCLASS «: MANDIBULATA. SECOND SUBCLASS ; HAUSTELLATA. Order 1.. Srnerstrrena. Order 1. Hestrrena. 2. Oxrworrena. 2. Homoprenra. 3. Neonorrera. 3. Lerrporrera. 4. Deamarrera. 4. Drprera. 5. Tatonorrera. ‘ 5. Homacorrera. 6. Hymenorresa. ° 6. AruAaNIPTERA 7. Arrera. ay Insects are classed by Westwoop in the following manner : FIRST SUBCLASS : DACNOSTOMATA. SECOND SUBCLASS : ANTHOSTOMATA. (Mouth with jaws) ( Mouth with « socker) Order 1. Hywenorrera. Order 1. Drprena. ? Osoulant Order Srxersirrera. Osculant Order Homatoprera. Order 2. Coteorrera. Osculant Order Evrtexortera. Osculant Order Armantprera. Order 8. Ontnorrena. Order 2. Herenorrena (including the water- ? Srnerstrrera? bugs). Order 4. Nevnorrera. Order 3. Homoptera. ? Order 5. Tricnorrera ( Phryganca alone). Order 4. Lepivorrera. CHAPTER IV. ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. Tue Coteoprrera is the order which has usually been first described, and Westwoop has followed the common practice in this respect in his Genera of British Insects. This order is thus characterized : Anterior wings horny or leathery, concealing the posterior when at rest, placed parallel and joined by a straight suture. Posterior or inferior wings membranous, longitudinally and transverse- ly folded. Mouth furnished with transverse jaws. Pupa incomplete. The insects of this order are denominated beetles : they constitute the most beautiful of the class, and occupy the foremost rank among the tribes. They are grouped as follows by Mr. M‘Leay : 1. GEODEPHAGA : containing those beetles which haye setaceous antenne, with the outer processes of the maxille palpiform. 2. HYDRADEPHAGA. In the first division the following families are included, being the old genus Caragus subdivided into CIcINDELID2. CARABIDE. GEODEPHAGA : HarpaLipz, Scaritipz. BracHINIDE. HYDRADEPHAGA : Gru YTICIDE. The above is regarded as a normal group, and is followed by an aberrant one, character- ized by clavate antenne, or such as become gradually thickened towards the apex, and the external lobe of the maxilla losing its palpiform character. This constitutes the Rypopnaca of SrePHEns. - Heresocentpa? Parnipx. PHILHYDRIDA : Herornontpx. Hypsrormiupsz. Srumamwupat? Scarmipupa. Sirmip2x. NECROPHAGA : Nimipvuipa. Exoipa. Deannstips. Srarnycinipx. Srenipx. BRACHELYTRA : Omauip 2. Psevarnips. Tacnyporip2. Wesrwoon, however, in his work on the British genera, adopts, in preference to the foregoing, the tarsal system, and hence recognizes the following subdivision : 1. Penramena : tarsi with five joints ; 2. Hereromena : tho four anterior tarsi 5-jointed, and the two posterior 4-jointed ; 8. Psevporereamena : tarsi 5-jointed, the fourth exceedingly minute ; 4. Psecporrimera : tarsi 4-jointed, the third joint very diminutive and concealed. Cicindelide. Ti family of beetles, which are known under this name, are among the most beautiful of the insect tribes : their colors are brilliant, and their markings-add to the beauty and elegance of the colors by contrast. In size they oceupy a middle ground : the largest searcely exceed an inch in length, and the smallest are at least one-third of an inch long. Their habits are as interesting as their colors are beautiful ; their watchfulness is untiring ; and though their flight is short, it is difficult to capture them. In the nature of their in- stincts they agree with the carnivora among the vertebrate class of animals : they are flesh-eaters ; but in order that they may capture and secure the living insect as their prey, they are qualified to give chase either on the wing or on foot, and they make war upon all insects that are not too strong for them. The cicindelid# hunt upon sandy and arid plains, and seem to delight in the heating rays of the sun; for in hot days they appear far more numerous, flying and alighting upon the ground before us in dry paths, and turning their heads watchfully towards us when they rest for a moment. FAMILY CICINDELIDA. 33 As the cicindel subsist solely upon other insects, or, in other words, are carnivorous, they cannot be regarded as injurious to the farmer : they are rather beneficial than de- trimental to his interests. Their markings, together with their predacious habits, have given them the name of tiger beetles. It is evident, from the prominence and size of their eyes, that they are well provided with one essential power to enable them to pursue suc- cessfully the means of subsistence, namely, keenness of vision. So too their jaws or man- dibles are powerful : their legs, however, are long and slender, and are adapted rather for quick movements than for the performance of feats of strength. The larve of the cicindele are no less predacious than the perfect animal. They are represented by Wesrwoop and others as having a large head armed with powerful jaws, and capable of burrowing in the earth to the depth of a foot. At the mouth of this burrow they lie in wait for their prey, which they seize and drag to the bottom to devour at their leisure. To aid in ascending and descending these burrows, they are provided with two hooks on the back : some observers, however, suppose these hooks may assist in holding their prey, when bent in a suitable manner ; for, on entering the mouth of the burrow with their prey) they suddenly slide to the bottom. These insects, then, in all their stages, are predacious ; and inasmuch as their numbers are less than those of many allied families, and their instinets are such as require a higher development of locomotive apparatus, they may well be regarded as occupying the highest rank in the articulated class. * ‘The Crctypetrom are in general easily distinguished : their colors are usually green or gray combined with a brassy or bronzed tint, with whitish spots for ornament in combina- tion with brindle spots or angulated lines, which give them all a pleasing and indeed an elegant appearance. From their powers of flight, the cicindele have sometimes received the name of Eupterinea. The family Crcinpetip” has been divided by Mr. Harxts into the following groups : 1. Labrum with three teeth ; thorax contracted behind. 2. Labrum 1-toothed ; thorax quadrangular, flattened above and dilated behind. 3. Labrum one toothed ; thorax nearly cylindrical. 1. Labrum provided with three teeth; thorax contracted behind. CICINDELA. The genus Cicrnpexa, as defined by Westwoon, is described as follows : The males have their anterior tarsi elongated and dilated. The elytra are oblong-ovate and depressed. Thorax subquadrate. Internal maxillary palpi with joints nearly equal in length ; the two basal joints of the labial palpi short, the third is elongate and ciliate, and the fourth clavate and naked. Antenne are inserted into the anterior margin of the eyes. The head [AericotturaL Rerorr — Vot. v.]} 5 a4 ORDER COLEOPTERA. AREY PART RCE ESTERS the yes are lrg and prom nent; elytra flat; wings two, ~ The larve of the cieindelw have nearly the same pane the ath Nlniath edie construct their habitations in the ground, penetrating it to the depth of eighteen inches, which labor is performed by means of their mandibles and legs. The hooks upon their backs aid them efficiently in ascending and descending their burrows : by means of these hooks or appendages, they suspend themselves at the mouths of their holes, and re for their prey. The larve are long, cylindric, soft, whitish grubs, and furnished with six feet. Thehead and first joint of the body are deseribed as metallic green above and brown beneath, The head is quite large, armed with two long, sharp, and nearly vertical mandibles. Upon the back there are fleshy tubercles clothed with hairs : each of these tubercles is armed with a recurved horny spine. e. Plate xvii, figs. 9, 10, 11 : copied from Rarzerne, Forst. Insecten.) 4 CiciINDELA VULGARIS. ( Plate xvii, ig. 1 10.) Labrum and base of the mandibles yellowish white. Elytra marked with three oblique lines, yellowish white and angulated : these lines are in the form of lunules; the one past the middle is double. Length of the male {1, of the female {4 of an inch. Sar in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, I, 409; Pl. xili, “Wx. L This species appears early in the spring, continuing until about the first of June : It reappears in August, and continues two months, and perhaps longer if the weather is favorable. CICINDELA GENEROSA. ( Plate xvii, fig. 2.) Color obscurely eup: cous above. Elytra bright purplish or subviolaceous ; lateral margin entire ; humera! and terminal lunule broad and white ; intermediate band bent at a right angle, and occupying nearly the centre of the elytron : at its extremity it is widened, and extends nearly to the suture. . Length varying but little from § of an inch. Head is varied with cupreous and violet ; the front is supplied with prostrate ashy hair. Labrum white ; anterior edge furnished with three teeth. Antenne, or their anterior margins, cupreous. Mandibles with about of the anterior and lateral portions white, the rest black. Trunk eupreous, varied with violet; sides hairy ; thorax quadrate, and somewhat nar- rowed behind. Elytra bright subviolaceous, deeply punctured with green. Feet and thighs bright green, above brassy. Abdomen greenish blue, hairy ; tail purplish. FAMILY CICINDELID. 35 This species, like the vulgaris, has two broods in the year ; the first appearing in May, the second in August. It lives in sandy districts, frequenting the sea-beaches, and is one of our largest species. CIcINDELA REPANDIS. The markings of the repandis resemble those of the vulgaris : the cream or yellowish white of the labrum extends to half ef the mandibles, and the insert is smaller; the lunules are wider and more dilated, the middle one extending to near the suture behind. CicinDELA PURPUREA. Purple. Head, thorax and elytra bordered with green combined with steel-blue and bril- liant green. Thorax margined with brilliant purple ; legs purple. Lunule upon the elytra obsolete. There is a cream-colored dot upon the outer angle of the shoulder, an obsolete lunule behind the middle, a spot upon the outer and posterior angle, and a bar upon tl¥ margin inside of the green edge. -Length half of an inch. Say, Trans. Am. Phil. Society, New series, II, 55; Pl. xiii, fig. 8. CicinDELA PATRUELA (Dj.). Bottle-green above, steel-blue and green beneath. Outer angle of the elytra marked with two ovoidal spots, nearly united by narrow and pointed elongations ; middle marked transversely by an oblique bar, posterior by a large round dot, and margin by a line inside of the purple edge. The lunules may be described as broken. It is rather more than half an inch in length, and nearly a quarter of an inch wide. Head is bright green with bluish, naked, and finely granulated ; labrum dingy white ; teeth three, with six marginal punctures. Mandibles have a white spot at base : the four basal joints of the antenne green ; terminal one rufous. Thorax convex, narrowed behind, granulated. Beneath bluish green; legs green; tro- chanters purple. It has a wide range, according to Goutp ; being found in North-Carolina, and in Ver- mont as far north as Burlington. CicINDELA GUTTATA. Brilliant steel-blue and green. Labrum light buff rather than cream-color, Outer edge or surface of the mandible buff; middle and outer angle of the elytra dotted : posterior margin has a short transverse bar inside of the green edge. Length rather less than half an inch, and ! in width. : Sax in Trans. Am. Phil. Society, New series, Pl. xiii, fig. 4. ay 36 ORDER COLBOPTERA. | os CictyoeLa aLoriannis (Whitetipped Cicindede). : Labrum white, obsoletely tridentate, rather prominent in the middle. Elytra broadly punctured, with three marginal spots and a broken diseoidal band, all white. Kiany ; figured on Plate I lo Richardson's N. A. Fauna. Body underneath green, or golden green clouded with blue; above, black with a purplish tint. Labrum white, prominent, armed in the middle with three short teeth, the Jateral ones obtuse ; above, with an intermediate obtuse longitudinal) ridge. Elytra, under a powerful magnifier, covered with innumerable minute granules, and also with nu- merous shallow impressions : a series of larger ones is parallel with the suture ; the angular white discoidal band reaches neither the suture, nor the latera) margin. There are also three marginal white dots, one humeral, another between it and the band, and one between the latter and the apex. Length of the body, 6 — 6} inches. Kinsy remarks, that though this species is common in this country, it is not noticed by Say, who perhaps mistook it for C. sylvatica (Lixy.), “of which it may be regarded as the American representative, and with which it agrees in its prominent upper lip and the shallow impressions and markings of its elytra, as well as in its general color; but it is smaller, has a white instead of a black upper lip, with an obtuse longitudinal ridge and not an acute one, terminating in three almost obtuse short teeth instead of a longer one, and likewise by the want of the silky lustre produced by granulations much more visible.” 3. Labrum with one tooth; thorax nearly cylindrical, sometimes elongated. CiciNDELA HIRTICOLLIS. Insect purplish gray above and brilliant green beneath. Outer anterior angle of the elytra marked with cream-colored spots ; there is another just behind the middle lunule, followed by another near the inner margin ; posterior and outer margin marked by a lunule. The lunules and spots less conspicuous than in the vulgaris or repandis. Length rather less than half an inch ; female, half an inch. CicINDELA ALROHIRTA. ( Plate xvii, fig. 1.) Insect, head and thorax brassy green ; hairs erect and white ; sides brilliant and cupreous. Elytra subviolaceous. Lunules and margin white, with the intermediate recurved band. Govnp ; Cictndele of Massachusetts, in the Boston Journal of Natural History, Vol. i, p. 49; pl. ill, Gig. 1. ‘ The head is cupreous varied with blue and green, and densely covered with long hoary _* hairs except behind the eyes; labrum white; marginal punctures ten; mandible ‘ FAMILY CICINDELID. 37 ‘Jong and dark green; tips and teeth black, with a white spot at base; palpi yel- ‘ Jowish white ; terminal joints green. Trunk brilliant cupreous at the sides. Thorax ‘ quadrate, brassy green, hairy. Elytra densely punctured.’ Govxp, Trans. Bost. Nat. Hist. Society. Abdomen greenish blue ; tail purple. According to Gouxp, it is closely allied to the hirticollis, with which it has been con- founded. : CicINDELA PUNCTULATA. Color obscure cupreous. Elytra purplish green and blue; beneath varied with blue and purple. An angular cream-colored line runs along the outer and posterior margin of the elytra ; the anterior and outer angle marked with cream-color. According to Gouxp, it has but a single brood in a season, which appears about the middle of July and remains till September. Common in dry places, paths in fields, ete. CicinpELA puopecimGuTTATA ( Dejean). ‘ ( Plate xvii, fig. 3.) Insect bronze above. Elytra with a narrow interrupted lunule, with spots near the suture replacing the termination of the lunule. Head pale and obscurely bronze ; front pu- bescent with ecinereous hairs ; labrum white ; mandibles dark green, with a white spot at base ; palpi dark green. Trunk quadrate and rather short ; feet green ; thighs cupreous. Beneath metallic greenish or blue ; sides of the thorax and breast cupreous. It is a common species, and appears early. Govtp in Trans. Bost. Nat. Hist. Society, Pl. iii, fig. 3. CicINDELA HAMORRHOIDALIS ( Hentz). ( Plate xvii, fig. 5.) Hentz, Trans. Am. Phil. Society, New series, ITI, 254; pl. ii, fig. 2. Hanagts, New-England Farmer, VII, 91. C. hentzii, Deagan, Spec. des Coléopteres, V. 1. Color bluish black above, or obscurely cupreous. Smal] humeral lunule entire ; posterior one subentire ; intermediate one sinuate and angular, white. Marginal dot white. Abdomen ferruginous. Length variable, not exceeding half an inch : one of the smallest of the species. Head cupreous, with two lines between the eyes ; eyes large and prominent, brown, with fine stri# around them ; basal joints of the antenne bronzed green, the others obscure brown ; labrum dingy white, somewhat rounded before, with six marginal punctures bearing hairs; mandibles short, dark green ; second joint of labials whitish. Thorax quadrate, as long as broad, obscure cupreous ; marginal impressed lines greenish blue ; sides hairy. Elytra bluish black or obscure cupreous; humeral lunule nearly inter- rupted in the middle, and dilated at the extremities ; intermediate band composed of two imperfect semicireles, or two crescents united at their tips; legs long, bluish green; trochanters purple. Head and thorax metallic blue beneath; breast green ; sides hairy. Govsp, Trans, Nat. Hist. Soc, Boston, p. 52-3. Discovered by Dr. T. W. Hanuts on the summit of Blue hill in Milton (Massachusetts), occupying the naked rock and the patches of mosses growing thereon. Its name is derived from the fact, that in flying, its abdomen appears like a drop of blood suspended to its tail. APPENDIX TO CICINDELA. Cicinpeta camprstais ( Linn.). ( Plate xvii, fig. 6.) Above dull green, sometimes richly resplendent with coppery and golden reflections. Elytra very finely shagreened, green, with from three to six pale spots on each, dis- posed one externally on the shoulder, three on the outer edge of the elytra, one on the tip and one in the disk. Beneath green, with rich coppery red hues ; legs bright copper all the tarsi ; labrum whitish. glossed with green, especially on the sien ee a, This is a common European species, introduced here for the purpose of comparison with ours. Carabide. ‘ Tue insects embraced in this natural family, or group, possess several characters in com- mon, by which they are distinguished from the cicindelidw, and from those which are to follow. The distinguishing characters, as given by systematic writers, are as follows : ‘ Anterior tibia without emargination on the inner side. Head narrower than the thorax ; ‘eyes rather prominent; palpi with the terminal joints often compressed, large, and ‘ somewhat triangular in shape ; mandibles simple, moderately long and rather thick.’ This family is divided by Westwoop into five sub-families, each embracing several allied genera. With the intention of giving these sub-families a natural arrangement, Westwoop places first upon the list the Brachinides, which stand near the head of the Gropernaca ; and ends with the Bembidiides, the sub-aquatics, or the sub-family which links the Gro- prernaca with the Hyproprrnaca. The order, then, in which the several sub-families stand to each other, is as follows : FAMILY CARABIDA. 89 1. Anterior tibia notched on the inside. 1. Bracuinipes : Bombardiers. Elytra truncated behind. Tarsi of the males seldom dilated at the base. 2. Scariripes : Burrowers. Elytra rounded at the extremity. Abdomen pedunculated. 3. Harvauives : Blackclocks. Elytra rounded behind. Abdomen sessile. 11. Anterior tibia without a notch near the tip. 4. Canasiwes : Dischargers. 5. Bempipupes : Subaquatics. This sub-family is distinguished from the four preceding by its palpi being terminated by a2 minute conical joint, while the same organ in the former is terminated by a joint equally large with the others. The habits of these sub-families differ from each other in many respects. The most important fact, however, which should be stated respecting the numerous species belonging to this family, is that they are friendly to the farmer. Many of them live upon refuse mat- ter : some devour those insects that are injurious to the farmer : hence they should not be destroyed ; and not only so, but it seems even possible to employ some species of them for the very purpose of extirpafing injurious insects. To exhibit the mode in which this may be accomplished, I copy the following communication from Prof. Harpeman, which he had translated from the fifth volume of the Revue Zoologique. The facts and remarks are quite important, and should be generally known, and therefore no apology is required for introducing them in this place. «“ There is,” says M. Borscrravn, “a numerous family, composed of carnivorous species, most of them robust and very voracious, which may be multiplied with impunity, and without fear, in our gardens. They do not, indeed, feed upon plants, which they are called to protect : on the contrary, they and their larve make great havoe of the herbivorous insects, and at the same time of the limaces and helices,” or land-snails, with and without shells; which, in Europe, are destructive to vegetation, but cannot be considered in the light of noxious animals in America. Nevertheless we are occasionally put in possession of the means to destroy them, taken from English horticultural works ; just as we are told how to protect ourselves from insects which are not found upon our side of the Atlantic. This is principally owing to the fact that the same vulgar name is applied to distinct objects in Europe and America. ‘ The insects alluded to are the carabide. “ Well, who would believe it,” continues the author, “the greater part of the cultivators crush these powerful auxiliaries with a kind of avidity; whilst the butterfly, which is to give birth to numerous caterpillars, which afterwards devour their plants, is the object of their admiration, and frequently even of their protection. A multitude of noxious insects, after having for several years committed ravages upon our property, disappeared suddenly, without our being made acquainted with . 40 ORDER COLEOPTERA. pat any In looking more closely into these matters, one might be assured, that in most an enemy of the insect which has disappeared, ee Eo ee “Tides Sethe Yeodls ictibatibat a ie coniace ‘ “ The thick foliage of a fine avenue of poplars was all at suse iaiiek levee immense quantity of the caterpillars of Bombyx dispar. I thought of giving them the Calosoma sycophanta for company ; as, like them, {ft passes its life upon the trees, feeding upon the caterpillars which it meets, and even deposits its eggs in their nest, that its voracious progeny may procure nourishment more easily and in greater abundance. Well! this insect multiplied itself with a rapidity truly astonishing ; and the caterpillars disappeared, with- out those who were witnesses to the destruction having the least idea of the causes which produced it.” The author then gives it as his opinion that the neighborhood of the city of Toulouse is so little ravaged by the Melolontha vulgaris, which is so destructive in other parts of France, because the Carabus auratus is very common in the fields, meadows and gardens. It is known, he remarks, that the Carabus auratus seizes and devours the Melo- lontha previous to the deposition of its eggs ; and that it is more fond of these, than of any part of the insect. ‘« One would be much deceived,” he continues, “in believing that it is always easy to make an advantageous use of this means of destruction, a profound study of the manners of insects being often indispensable to arrive at the end proposed.” Here is an example : “The most robust of our carabi, the Procrustes coriaceus (Lixyxus), had served me admirably in the centre of France to destroy the little insects which attack the plants in gardens : here (in the south) this insect does not destroy the same species; and although very common, it is unknown, or hardly every met with. The reason is, that in the centre, the west, and probably the north of France, this procrustes is diurnal, requiring only cool and shady places : with us (in the south, under a warmer climate) it is, on the contrary, essentially nocturnal, and therefore destroys only such insects as are, like itself, nocturnal, or which remain within its reach during the obscurity of night.” ‘“In transporting into my garden twenty of the Carabus auratus, I had thought to destroy the collections of Forficula (no destructive species found in America) which had chosen it for the theatre of their ravages.” To his great astonishment, the cerabi, which will actually destroy the forficula, were either found starved to death, or left the place ; and the latter continned their devastations! The reason given is, that the forficule are essentially noeturnal, and, during the day, keep themselves hidden in crevices into which the carabi cannot follow them : these latter, too, are only active during the middle of the day, and in the heat of the sun. But the resources of our persevering entomologist were not yet exhausted ; his next expedient being to introduce a smaller carnivorous insect common in France, the Stephylinus olens, which, he remarks, “filled all the necessary conditions for the destruction of the forficule.” ‘ FAMILY CARABIDA. 41 « «You see, then, gentlemen,” says M. Borscinavn, in conclusion, “ that it is indispen- sable to study the manners and habits of destructive insects, that their instinct and address may be successfully employed for the destruction of the species able to do us injury. Then in place of barbarously crushing the useful species which have the misfortune to be not always ornamented with the rich colors of the butterfly or the buprestis, we will endeavor to protect them and propagate their race. We will find auxiliaries in them the more valuable, as they increase with our adversaries, and as they alone are able to rival the cunning of these ingenious enemies.” ’ Brachinides. Tue sub-family Bracuintpes may be known by the shortness of the wing-covers, which are not sufficiently prolonged to cover the extremity of the abdomen. In addition to this character, the head and thorax are narrower than the abdomen. The labium is often oval or square, and is occasionally furnished with two smal] lateral linear lobes. The penulti- mate joint of the tarsi is bilobed in many of the small species : the anterior tarsi of the males are, very rarely, dilated at the base. Some species are destitute of wings (Wesr- woop). The most curious fact connected with the natural history of this sub-family is the means by which they defend themselves against the attack of an enemy. When pursued, they suddenly discharge from behind a highly volatile and elastic fluid, possessing con- siderable pungency : this sudden discharge, which is accompanied with an explosion, both irritates and confuses the pursuer, so that the intended victim has opportunity to escape. From this singular mode of defence, these insects have received the name of bombardiers. The fluid discharged is caustic, and stains the skin yellowish brown. They live under stones, logs or boards in fields. Several individuals are often found in the spring together, as if their habits were of a social nature. / Genus BRACHINUS ( Weser). - Body oval, convex ; thorax narrow ; labrum transverse ; tarsi simple ; palpi filiform ; ‘claws simple.’ Wrstwoop. Bracnines perrrexvs (Dj.). ( Plate xvii, fig. 7.) Head, thorax, abdomen and legs light brick-red. Elytra bluish black, faintly grooved. Bracnixus cernarores (Dj.). ( Plate xviii, fig. 4.) Head, thorax, abdomen and legs light brick-red. Elyira blue-green, or with a reflexion of green ; the metallic hues stronger than in the perplexus : body also proportionally shorter, and more obtuse behind. Length about three-tenths of an inch. { Acricutturat Reront — Vot. yv.] 6 42 ORDER COLEOPTERA. Buacnines conronmts, . (Plate xviii, fig. 5.) Head, thorax and legs brick-red. Elytra blue lustrous, or semi metallic, Abdomen dark brown. Length one-fourth of an inch. ‘Baacurvs FUMANS. “(Plate xvii, fig. 6.) Head, thorax, under and anterior part of the abdomen, and legs brick-red. ana pur- plish. Sides of the abdomen brown. Length about half an inch. Found under stones, rails, ete. in June, July and August. Not uncommon in ee England and New-York. Genxvs CIMINDIS (Larneire). Tanvs (Ctairvite), ‘ Body depressed ; thorax cordate truncate; claws denticulated ; tarsi simple ; labial ‘ palpi of the males with the basal joint securiform’ (Westwoop). Crips PrILosvs. (Plate xviii, fig. 13. Insect dark brown, pilose ; legs light brown. Head and thorax about two-thirds the lengt of the abdomen, which is rounded, and nearly covered by the elytra. Genus GALERITA (Fan.). Potysticuus ( Bar.). *‘ Body depressed ; head triangular ; thorax subcordate ; palpi long ; tarsi anes; men- ‘tum tooth triangular’ (Westwoop). Ga.enita amentcana (L.). ( Plate xviii, fig. 12.) Head elongate, small and black or brownish black ; thorax and legs bright red. Elytra blue-black, submetallic with cupreous reflexions. Length from six- to seven-tenths of an inch. Gexvs LEBIA (Lartr.). ‘ Body depressed, broad ; thorax transverse, lobed behind ; penultimate joints of the tarsi ‘ bilobed’ (Westwoop). Lxaia Ataiventnis (Say). ( Plate xviii, fig. 2.) Head, thorax and legs brick-red ; elytra and abdomen glossy black. The lower and an- terior part of the abdomen is of the same color as the thorax, and the upper surface of the tarsi is black. Length one-fourth of an inch. FAMILY CARABID®. 43 Lesia sMaraAGpuLa (Dj.). ( Plate xviii, fig. 3.) Head, thorax and elytra brilliant metallic blue-green ; lower side glossy black. Length? Lepra virtprs (Say). ( Plate xviii, fig. 1.) Brilliant green above, glossy black below ; legs black. Length from three- to four-tenths of an inch. L. smaragdula and viridis scarcely differ either in color or size. Scaritides, Tue most remarkable peculiarity in this sub-family is the wide space between the thorax and abdomen, by which the latter appears pedunculated : the posterior angles of the former are also so rounded, that its form is lunate. The antenne are short, moniliform, and the first joint is the longest; the head is large; the tibi# of the anterior legs are broad and dentated, having the appearance of being palmated. The mandibles are large and powerful, and armed with broad teeth ; labrum short, entire or dentate, sometimes trilobate ; mentum tridentate, with the middle tooth strong ; labial palpi two- and four- jointed. The scaritides are carnivorous, and in this respect bear a close resemblance to the allied subfamilies : some living in the ground, upon other insects or their larve ; and some frequenting the seacoast, burrowing in the sand, and living upon the dead careases of shrimps. In this State, they burrow in the ground, or live under stones. A-Jarge-species is-found -in-decaying_logs_in North-Carolina;-some ten-or—fifteen-being frequently found together ir one-sitnation. Genus SCARITES (Fas.). Teneprio (Linn.). ‘Oblong, subdepressed ; antenne elbowed ; mandibles with strong teeth internally ; ‘ external maxillary palpi and terminal joint of the labia nearly cylindric ; mentum ‘ trilobate. Antenne with the basal joint subeonie ; thorax broad, faints? body ‘ depressed ; anterior tibie strongly palmated, the rest simple’ (Ssaensaiyy. ScariTEs suBTERRANEvS (Fab.). ( Plate xviii, fig. 14.) Color black ; thorax marked with a fine central line. Thorax and head equal the abdomen in length, the latter supported on a short peduncle. Length eight-tenths of an inch. The insect, in consequence of its pedunculated abdomen, appears as if bisected. It is a nocturnal feeder, and is found quite abundantly in Central New-York. Its singular form renders it easy to be distinguished. a4 ORDER COLEOPTERA. Gexus CLIVINA (Larn.). ‘ Labrum quadrate, transverse ; mandibles short, denticulated from the base to the apex ; ‘ terminal joint of the labial palpi nearly cylindric ; basal joint of the antenne stout, ‘ the second long; body elongated, subdepressed ; thorax qn anterior tibiae ‘ palmated externally and at the tip’ (Srermens). Curvina tingoiata (Say). ( Plate xviil, fig. 11.) Color light glossy brown ; thorax rounded behind and narrowed before, marked by three distinet lines ; elytra marked by distinctly punctate lines, of which there are about five to each elytrum. Length two- to three-tenths of a line. Found under stones. Gesus DYSCHIRIUS ( Panzen). Body elongated, subcylindric at the tip; thorax globular or globose; tibim rarely pal- mated. > Dyscnraivs GLosunosus (Say). (Plate xviii, fig. 15.) Insect brown, glossy ; thorax globose, smooth ; elytra punctated. Length scarcely two- tenths of a line. Harpalides, Tue elytra of this sub-family cover the abdomen; the extremity is rounded : they are also sessile, and not pedunculated. The anterior tibie are deeply notched near their tips, and, in the males, the basal joints are dilated. The mentum is emarginate, though it is occasionally entire : the centre of the emargination has generally a spine. The antenne are filiform ; labrum quadrate, rarely bilobate, but sometimes emarginate in front; man- dibles generally with one or more denticulations ; mentum deeply emarginate anteriorly, the emargination simple or sometimes toothed ; body elongate. These insects are not so voracious as those of the succeeding family, the Cananirs. The predominant colors are black, while a few of them are adorned with brillient metal- lic hnes. Some are apterous, and run remarkably well. The larva, like the perfect inseet, lives beneath stones, and feeds upon other insects or their larva. They are cylindric and elongate, but slightly flattened or depressed ; and they have twelve rings, which are more or less sealy : the Jast ring is armed with two small processes. The sub-family contains many genera, which, though related to each other, are not readily separable into groups. Sternens divides them into three groups, viz : FAMILY CARABID, 45 A. Mentum emarginate, and without a tooth. B. Mentum emarginate ; emargination furnished with a bifid tooth. C. Mentum emarginate, and furnished with a simple tooth. Genus AGONUM. Carasus (Lin.). ‘Anterior tarsi with elongated joints ; mentum tooth simple ; thorax rounded’ ( Wesr- woop). AGoNUM ocTopUNCTATUM. ( Plate xviii, fig. 8.) Head, thorax and elytra brilliant green above, and traversed through the middle by a bronze belt ; greenish bronze below. Elytra marked with four punctures each towards their inner margins. AGONUM CUPRIPENNE. ( Plate xviii, fig. 9.) Body and thorax brilliant green; elytra brilliant bronze or green, as the light favors the reflexions. Elytra faintly lined, and punctured upon the marginal line. * Genus HARPALUS (Larr.). ‘ Palpi, external maxillary and labial with the terminal joint fusiform and truncate, and ‘ of equal length with the preceding, which is clavate ; labrum subquadrate, slightly ‘emarginate ; mandibles short; mentum deeply notched, with an obtuse simple ‘ Jobe in the centre ; antenne with two basal joints, naked ; thorax transverse, sub- ‘ quadrate. Anterior and intermediate tarsi of the males with three dilated joints’ ( SterHeEns). s Harpatus pievriticus (Raf.). . ( Plate xix, fig. 16.) Chestnut- brown; sides, both of the elytra and thorax, nearly straight, obtuse behind. Length half an inch. The thorax is smooth, and without punctures upon the angles, and the male is darker than the female. HIARPALUS BICOLOR. (Plate xix, fig. 15.) Color dark chestnut-brown. Sides rather curved, and posterior angles of the abdomen and elytra rounded. Length six-tenths of an inch. The thorax is marked by a central line, which extends to the posterior margin : pos- teriorly it is indented by two impressions, and sculptured like the faunus. Harpatvus raunvs (Say). : ( Plate xix, fig. 14.) Color reddish brown, nearly uniform. The thorax is longer than in the plewriticus, and the bases of the elytra touch the sternum. The head is —— than in the preceding species. Length five-tenths of anineh. | oh The head is without punctures, except on the posterior and saeiit angles, and the thoracic line does not extend to either margin. Color beneath of a light fawn. HARra.us eRRaticus. ( Plate xix, fig. 13. ) Color light brown or rufous, narrow, elongate ; thorax wider in front than elytra slightly truncate, exposing the point of the abdomen. Length six-tenths of an inch. The male is furnished with strong mandibles, and, in both sexes, the brown elytra are darker than the glossy head and thorax. Genus PANGUS (Zeter.). Hanrarvs (Stephens). ‘ Palpi with the terminal joint subeylindrie ; thorax narrowed behind ; angles rounded ; ‘antenne rather short’ (Westwoop), Paneus caricinosvs. ( Plate x, fig.7.) . Color black and rather dull, rather glossy beneath : the thorax has a broad transverse elevation. Elytra marked by about eight impunetate lines ; outer border obscurely punctate : legs furnished with rows of reddish spines and cilia. Length eight-tenths of an inch. Pangus caliginosus is found sometimes upon the seedbearing tops of tall grass ; but it is not apparent whether the vegetable, or an insect inhabitant, was the object of pursuit. This insect is about an inch long, robust, broad, of a black color, with a large head and quadrate prothorax which is wider than long ; the elytra with eight impressed stria:. Gexus AMARA (Bs.). ‘Oblong oval, broad, subdepressed ; head ovate; thorax as broad as the elytra; wings ‘two; mentum-tooth bifid ; last joint of the palpi ovate ; labrum quadrate, slightly ‘ emarginate ; mandibles short, denticulated at base ; elytra somewhat emarginate at ‘ the tip. Anterior tarsi of the males with three dilated joints’ (Strrnens). Amana impuncticotis (Say). (Plate xix, fig. 11.) Color black with a strong purplish hue, or acupreous lustre nearly uniform in tint. Length about four-tenths of an inch. The genus Astana is said to have been observed in Europe eating the seeds of immature grain; but the damage that insects of carnivorous families are likely to do, are trifling in ~ comparison to the benefits they confer. FAMILY CARABIDE. 47 Genus AGONODERUS (D,.). Head subquadrate ; thorax subquadrate, slightly narrowed behind, elongate : the thorax equals in width the base of the elytra. AGONODERUS PALLIPES. f ( Plate xix, fig. 5.) Head black or very dark brown ; thorax, elytra and legs brown : middle of the thorax darker. Inner margins of the elytra darker than the outer and posterior margins. Genus ANISODACTYLUS (Ds.). Hanpauvs (Steph.). ‘ First tarsal joint of the male small, the fourth largest ; mentum-tooth obsolete ; thorax ‘ subquadrate or trapezoid’? (Westwoop). ANISODACTYLUS AGRICOLLIS. ( Plate xix, fig. 9.) Color dark brown or black ; thorax about as wide as the base of the elytra ; sides slightly curved. Length five-tenths of an inch. ANISODACTYLUS RUSTICUS. (Plate xix, fig. 10.) Color brown ; the thorax rather wider than the base of the elytra. Length nearly half an inch. ANISODACTYLUS BALTIMORIUS. Head and thorax dark brown ; elytra, legs and antenne much lighter, or light chestnut- eolor. Length rather less than half an inch. Genus CHLCENIUS (Bon.). Caranvs (Lin.). ‘Palpi with the last joint ovate truncate; mentum-tooth bifid : thorax, in the centre, ‘ truncate subcordate, broadest behind or subquadrate’ (Westwoop). CHL@NIUS EMARGINATUS. ( Plate xx, fig. 6.) Head black, with green submetallic hues ; thorax bronze, submetallic ; elytra blue-black, brilliant : beneath black, punctate, sculptured, but confined mostly to the thorax and anterior of the abdomen ; thorax and head above finely punctate ; legs, palpi and feelers light reddish brown. Length half an inch. CrLastus NEMORALIS. ( Plate xx, fig. 5.) Head and thorax metallic green ; elytra blue-black, rather brilliant ; legs, palpi and an- . tennw brown. Length half an inch. , This species is rather broader than the foregoing. - CHLEENIUS SERICEUS. ( Plate xx, fig. 7.) Head, thorax and elytra brilliant green above, glossy black below, punctate ; legs, palpi and antennew brown. Length from six- to seven-tenths of an inch. CuLaxius TOMENTOSUS. ( Plate xx, fig. 2) Head black, dark bronze, punctate ; elytra dark, bronzed and faint greenish hue, tomen-* tose. CaL@xies LITHoPHILus. ( Plate xx, fig. 8.) Head, thorax and elytra green, brilliant black beneath ; legs, palpi and antennse brown. Length four-tenths of an inch. Gexus TRECHUS (Cuatry.). Mentum transverse, tridentate anteriorly ; central tooth shortest; head ovate; thorax cordate truncate ; angles mostly rounded. Trecuvs cixctus. ( Plate xix, fig. 8.) Smal!, shining brown; head darker; elytra rather lighter on the outer than the inner margin. Length two-tenths of an inch. Trecuvs conjunctus. ( Plate xix, fig. 7.) Small, shining brown ; head black or dark brown. Length rather more than two-tenths of an inch. Gexvus CALATHUS (Bow). Cananvs (Lin.). Tarsal claws toothed ; palpi simple and rather long; labial nearly filiform, the terminal joint truncate ; labrum transverse, a little emarginate ; mandibles denticulated at the base; mentum with a bifid tooth in the centre of the notch ; elytra elliptic; thorax subquadrate or trapeziform ; head angular. CALATHUS GREGARIUS, ( Plate xviii, fig. 16.) Form ovate; antenn® long filiform : head, thorax and elytra of a glossy brown color ; margin lighter; legs brown. Length about four-tenths of an inch. FAMILY CARABIDA. 49 Genus ANCHOMENUS (Bon.). Canasnus (Fab.). -¢Mentum-tooth entire ; thorax cordate, posterior angles acute ; elytra oblong, subeonvex ; ‘ head as broad as the thorax ; third joint of the antenne twice as long as the second. _ ¢Elytra rather sinuate at the apex. Anterior tarsi of the males with three dilated ‘ joints’ (West. & Sreru.*). ANCHOMENUS EXTENSICOLLIS (Steph.). ( Plate xviii, fig. 10.) Head and thorax green, submetallic; elytra purplish bronze, submetallic ; legs light brown. Length about four-tenths of an inch. Diceius praratus (Say). ( Plate xxi, fig. 13.) Insect large ; thorax nearly as wide as the abdomen. Head black, smooth ; thorax purple, indented before and behind. Elytra purple, strongly marked by eight plain lines : one begins in the acute upper and outer angle, running rather obliquely, and joins the fifth from the inner margin, the two enclosing one line : outer line next the margin depressed, and imperfectly punctured. Length about eight-tenths of an inch. Dice.us ELoNnGATus (Say). ( Plate xxi, fig. 9.) Insect narrowed ; margin of the thorax and elytra nearly upon the same line, black ; head and thorax smooth. Elytra markéd with plain lines : line commencing at the outer and anterior angle, rather oblique, and becoming more so at the posterior extremity, where it coalesces with the other lines, and all together terminate in the posterior and inner angle ; the dotted line of the margin obsolete. Length about seven-tenths of an inch. - SpH£RODERUS STENOSTOMUS ( JDj.). ( Plate xxi, fig. 10.) Insect dilated behind, narrowed before; head smooth, shining black ; thorax smooth, brilliant steel-blue, punctured behind. Elyira dark purplish upon their disks, bordered by rich steel-blue, punctured and lined; lines interrupted posteriorly. Glossy black and punctured laterally beneath. Length from five- to six-tenths of an inch. * Mr. Sterwens remarks that the Ancuomenvus may be distinguished from Catutsros by the elongate form of the thorax, and its net being punctate throughout; and from Prarinus, by its acute simple notch in the centre of the mentum. { AcricutturaL Revort— Vor. v.] 7 ==" ~~” =~ 50 ORDER COLEOPTERA. Carabides — Coxstirere the fourth sub-family of the Canampa:. They are distinguished from the other subfamilies by the absence of the notch, which, in the allied species, is situated near the extremity of the anterior tibia : the only approach made to it, is by the presenee of a slight groove in the place of the notch at the extremity of the tibia. The elytra are entire, and cover the extremity of the abdomen : antennm setaceous ; labrum may be simple, bilobate or trilobate; mandibles simple or merely one-toothed, rarely tridentate ; maxille ciliated internally, and furnished with a claw at the tip; labial palpi four-jointed ; men- tum large, broad, and generally produced in the centre ; anterior tarsi greatly dilated in the males. This subfamily contains many large showy insects : they are mostly apterous, and their elytra are often elegantly marked with metallic spots, or set off with splendid metallic hues. The carabides run fast, and are very carnivorous in their habits ; hence they should be preserved, as they are friendly to the farmer. Some of them discharge a powerful odor when taken, which is exhaled from a fluid ejected from the abdomen, and remains a long time. The Genus Canranvs, the typical one of the family, contains, according to Mr. West- woop, notwithstanding the restrictions to which it has been subjected, nearly 200 species. By fur the greater number of these species are confined to northern climes. Gexus CYCHRUS (Fas.). Tenennio ( Lin.). Head long and narrow ; palpi with the last joint large and spoonshaped ; labrum strongly bilobate ; mandibles bidentate at the tip; antenn# setaceous; mentum quadrate, toothless ; thorax truncate ; wings none. Cycuavus vives (Dj.). ( Plate xxi, fig. 14.) Insect large, dilated behind and narrowed before : head and thorax bluish purple, seulp- tured on the borders. Elytra purple, marked by about fifteen strong dotted lines each, which are somewhat interrupted behind and partially broken, giving them an ap- proach to a zigzag form ; beneath, purplish, inclining to brown or cupreous. Length from one to one and a quarter inches. This insect may be known by its remarkable elongation of the head and thorax, and its dilated elytra and abdomen, the former of which are reflected over the latter. FAMILY CARABID. 51 Genus CARABUS. Labrum bilobate ; mandibles furnished with a tooth in the middle ; mentum-tooth entire ; thorax subcordate, emarginate behind ; palpi with the last joint securiform ; antenne linear, second joint shortest, third cylindric ; wings rudimentary or none. Anterior tarsi of males dilated. Carasus vinctus ( Weber); C. interruptus (Say). ( Plate xxi, fig. 11.) Head and thorax smooth, blue-black. Elytra black, faintly bronzed, and marked with punctured lines : the three interrupted lines are sharply elevated, and the metallic points are reflected from these interruptions. Length eight- to nine-tenths of an inch. Carasus serratus (Say). ( Plate xxi, fig. 12.) Color black, with blue and purplish hues which are reflected from the margins of the elytra and thorax : head and thorax plain and glossy black ; margins of the thorax elevated and punctured. Elytra thickly punctured in about twelve rows : if taken in threes, there are three rows of ovoidal parallel impressions without punctures. Length seven- to eight-tenths of an inch. Caranus Limpatus (Say). ( Plate xxi, fig. 16.) Color black : head and thorax smooth and glossy black. Elytra purplish black, bordered with blue and purplish hues, and marked by seventeen or eighteen punctured lines : three of these lines are broken by stellate or cruciform markings. Length nine-tenths of an inch. Genus CALOSOMA (Wes.). Carasus (Lin.). Labrum bilobed ; thorax transverse, shorter than wide; abdomen subquadrate, wider behind than before ; wings large ; palpi with the last joint ovate, truncate ; labium short broad, the upper margin setose acuminated ; mentum sublinear, rounded late- rally, unidentate in the middle. Antennz, second joint shortest ; third longest, eom- pressed. CALOSOMA SCRUTATOR. ( Plate x, fig. 8.) Head blue-black ; thorax blue-black, surrounded with golden green. Elytra green with purplish reflexion and bordered with cupreous, marked with punctured lines : the ridges between are transversely marked with numerous lines ; each elytrum is also- ornamented with three rows of distant green dots, which are not very conspicuous. The whole body beneath is green, with steel-blue reflections : legs steel-blue, and the thighs are punctured with four or five rows of dots ; tarsi and tibie dusky. Length | exceeds an inch : about 1} inches. _ CALOpoMA CALIDUM. ( Plate xxi, fig. 15.) Head and thorax black, finely punctured. Elytra ornamented by three rows of metallie spots placed upon thick lines, crossed by obscure punctures. Length aine- tenths af an inch. “Both species of Catooma nro ebundant in the United States; both eithee usin: in- sects, and are useful by diminishing the number of inseets injurious to the farmer. are furnished with wings, are found upon trees, and feed upon the larvie of lepidopterous insects : their larve also have the habits of the perfect insect. Gexus NOTIOPHILUS (Dux.). Exarnnus ( Pabr.). Head as broad as the thorax; eyes large; thorax quadrate, flattened ; labrum large, rounded ; palpi robust. Notiormius romrectus. ( Plate xx, fig. 13.) Insect brown, with a uniform bronze hue. Length from two to three lines. This insect is wider in front than posteriorly : the great size of the eyes niet the head as prominent as the thorax. Gexus ELAPHRUS (Fasn.). Cretpeta (Lin.). ‘Antenne short; eyes very prominent ; therax convex ; labrum slightly trilobed ; palpi ‘slender’ (Westwoov). ~ Exarnaus ruscartvs (Lin.). ( Plate xx, fig. 1.) Head, thorax and elytra bronze tinted with green, and singularly marked by dark round spots encircled with green, which give the insect a tuberculate appearance ; beneath green and metallic. The insect’s body is short, but it has the general appearance of a CrcrypeLa. Omorunon LaBiatum ( Fab.). ( Plate xx, figs. 11, 12.) Head with a deeply notched patch of green at the base, and partially surrounding the eyes : thorax black, with green metallic hues bordered with light brown. Elytra variegated with black-green metallic hnes, and bordered with light brown, traversed with many punctate lines; beneath brown. Var. tessellatus, Say (fig. 12). Obseurely banded ; the elytra traversed on their inner margins with black : the brown is more conspicuous, and occupies a larger portion of the elytra. Length about one-fourth of an inch. FAMILY CARABID. 53 Bem bidiides. Tae maxillary and labial palpi in this subfamily are terminated by a very minute joint. The anterior tibie are always notched on their insides, near their tips. The insects are small, and run with considerable speed : they are adorned with metallic colors. They live under stones in damp places, or in crevices in the ground ; and they are carnivorous, feeding upon the larve of other insects, and also upon dead animal matter. Gexcs BEMBIDIUM ({ir1cer). Crcrxpexa (Lin.). Thorax truncate cordate ; elytra tubercled ; eyes very prominent. BeEMBIDIUM SIGILLARE. ( Plate xx, fig. 3.) Head, eyes, thorax and elytra above metallic gray, bronzed with a faint purplish in some lights ; beneath, brilliant green : legs darker above. Length rather more than one- fourth of an inch. Sometimes very abundant on the leaves of water plants. BemeiwiuM HONESTUM. : ( Plate xx, fig. 4.) Head and elytra gray bronze, duller than the preceding ; thorax blue-black ; beneath, black with a greenish hue. Length about a quarter of an inch. BeMBrpIuM INEQUALE (Say). Eyes very large ; head, thorax and abdomen gray, metallic and bronze, uniform. BeEMBIDIUM INORNATUM. ( Plate xx, fig. 9.) Head, thorax and elytra brown. Length about one-tenth of an inch. BeMBIDIUM TRIPUNCTATUM. ( Plate xx, fig? 10.) Head, thorax end elytra brown; metallic hues absent. Length one-tenth of an inch. BeMBIDIUM VARIEGATUM. ( Plate xx, fig. 14.) Head, thorax and elytra metallic green above, when seen in some directions ; below, black and brownish : legs brown. The elytra are variegated with paler patches of brown, and they appear of a glossy brown when seen by direct light. Length two- tenths of an inch. oA ORDER COLEOPTERA. HYDRADEPHAGA. Tux insects included in this section reside in water, and hence their legs are transformed into organs suitable for moving in this element. In addition to the transformation of the legs into swimming organs, the body undergoes a change of form, becoming oval or boat- shaped : in fine they are thoroughly fitted for the element in which they are to move, being endowed with the means of pursuing their prey, and furnished with all the con- veniences which their congeners upon the land possess. Although they subsist in water, yet they are not provided in their perfect state for obtaining a supply of air from the element in which they move : they are air-consumers, and are obliged to rise occasionally to the surface to obtain a supply of air for respiration. The Hypaapernaca are predacious beetles; and although it is not important to the farmer to know them in an economical point of view, still some of the larger kinds prey upon the ova of fish, and even upon their young; and in this respect, they are not entirely destitute of interest to the owners of fish-ponds. Regarded as animals which live by the chase, they are truly more greedy and gluttonous than the predacious land beetles ; they are pre-eminently voracious and destructive. Their larvae, of course, are aquatic ; and they too feed voraciously upon other aquatic insects. The perfect animal, though fitted for the water, is not confined to it : it may take wing at evening, and enter dwellings, like moths, being allured by the dazzling light of lamps near a window. They obtain air by resting upon the surface, and raising their elytra ; this brings the air more immediately into contact with the spiracles of the insect. Srernens divides the Hyonaperuaca into two families, viz : long, setaceous : embracing the Dytictp2 ; ANTENN® . short, clavate : embracing the Gyainips. 1. The Dyricro are furnished with rather long setaceous antennae ; their bodies are oval, being rounded anteriorly and posteriorly ; their thorax is short and transverse, and their legs are formed for swimming : the posterior ones, however, are especially adapted to this end, by their great length, and by being furnished with two rows of dense cilia arranged along the edges, with the view of increasing the width of the oar; the tarsi are also flat in the fhales, and the anterior ones are more dilated than in the females, The mandibles of the larva are much bent, and are pierced for the purpose of extracting the juices from the animals upon which they subsist. Their respiratory organs are situated behind, and consist of two segments fringed with hairs and terminating in two conical appendages, between which are two cylindric perforated tubes : these communicate with the respiratory organs. The larva, as well as the imago, is obliged to rise to the surface to obtain a supply of air. FAMILY DYTICIDZ. 55 2. The Gyrinip& are provided with short clavate antenne : body oval and convex, as in the Dyticipx, but more glossy. The legs are unequal in this family : the anterior ones are long, and the four posterior are short, compressed, and formed for swimming. The larve differ also from those of the Dyricipom, by having on each side of the fourth and seven following segments a membranous conical appendage, which is flexible and bearded at the sides : these appendages are subordinate to the respiratory organs, with which they communicate by a small tube. Dyticide. Halipides. Antenne ten-jointed ; posterior cox dilated into a large shield, covering the base of the legs. Genus HALIPLUS (Crarrv.). Cyemmorus (TIl.). Maxillary palpi with the last joint very minute and subulate. Hauretus 12-puncrartus. ( Plate xx, fig. 15.) Head, thorax and elytra buff-colored. Elytra with twelve black spots, some of which are confluent ; inner margin and anal extremely black ; thorax with a lunate black or brown spot on its anterior margin ; eyes black. HALirLus IMMACULATICOLLIs. (Plate xx, fig. 16.) Insect buff-color : elytra with ten black spots, the central comparatively large, and com- mon to both elytra ; thorax brown, immaculate. Gexus DYTICUS. Dyrtiscus ( Linn.) * Anterior male tarsi patellated ; claws didactyle; maxillary palpi with the second and third joints equal’ (Westwoop). Dyticus HARRISII. ( Plate v, fig. 10.) Color black softened into olive ; front or forehead Inteous ; lateral margins of the thorax Iuteous : upon the latter it diminishes posteriorly, and extends to the under side of the same ; beneath, the thorax and first pair of legs are luteous : posterior legs long, and furnished with two dense rows of brown cilia. Length one inch. This species is rather common in small ponds of water, where the bottom is clear and sandy : a locality where it may always be found, is at the head springs which supply the city of Albany with water. 56 ORDER COLEOPTERA. a : ’ © eu errt eva oA. 4 (MP MERCH ES ey 2ly 0'' PA hes Tus subfamily is composed of insects which frequent water : their eo and narrow, and their Jegs are formed for walking. They have un oval body, more convex, and the posterior part of the thorax is as wide as the abdomen or bees of they The antenne are short ; mandibles robust and notched at the tip, with their inner ciliated. As they frequent the water, their entire surface, as in Pauses, is covered with cilia to retain air; or, as in Evotts, in part ciliated, for the same object. This arrangement gives them oxygen when immersed in water. The two genera Panyus and Evos are regarded as belonging to two sabfamilies ; but being closely related, it is sufficient for our purpose to place them in juxtaposition. Parsxvus FASTIGIATUS. ( Plate xxiii, fig. 7.) Body oval convex ; head retracted : color a drab brown ; thorax and elytra covered with a coat of fine appressed hair ; legs reddish on their outer sides. Evaus crenatis? ( Plate xxiii, fig. 9.) Body convex, angulated, punctate, acute behind ; thorax and elytra marked with four black dots; end a faint reddish stripe upon each ; legs reddish. Silphides, Tue wide depressed or flat form of body is a reliable characteristic of a part of this group. ‘They are always present in putrescent animal matter : wherever a carcase of an animal is decaying, or even a bone not perfectly bleached, there we find numbers of the silphides. The Necrornons, however, is much less depressed or flattened than the genus Stcpma, and seems at first sight to constitute a distinct group by itself. The latter are sometimes called sexton beetles, from their habit of burying all the smal] dead animals which they meet with. In this Iabor, they exhibit a great amount of industry and perseverance, as well as a high grade of instinct in seemingly devising means to accomplish an end. The anatomical characters of these beetles, as given by Westwoop and others, are : Antenne thickened at the tips; palpi filiform and slender; labrum transverse and emarginate ; maxille bilobed, the inner armed with a hook ; mandibles strong and exsert, especially in Necrornoxes ; thorax orbicular or semicircular, forming a kind of shield for the head ; tarsi five-jointed, the fourth nearly equalling the others. Gexes NECROPTIORUS (Fan., Leacn, Onrv.). € Body oblong ; elytra truncate ; club of the antenna large, round, four. jointed, perfoliate ; * maxille unarmed ’ ( Westwoop) FAMILY DYTICIDAS. 57 NecropHorus AMERICANUS (O].). ( Plate xxii, fig. 8.) Head, thorax and elytra black, shining ; forehead marked with a cordate yellowish brown spot ; thorax brown, except a black dentate border : elytra marked with four ir- regular yellowish brown spots, the anterior prolonged upon the anterior margin ; margin grooved, and of the same color as the spots : club of the antenne yellowish brown, black beneath : anterior tarsi ciliate ; cilia yellowish brown. This large conspicuous beetle presents certain variations of color and marking, which indicate a difference either in sex or species. The yellowish brown spots described above are much darker in some individuals, while the forehead mark is rounded behind, square in front, and behind and between the eyes there is a rufous spot which does not exist in all. The thorax is curiously indented upon its border. Length 1} inch. ° NecropHorus ToMENTOsus ( Wb.). ( Plate x, fig. 2.) Black : elytra crossed by two rufous bands, black beneath ; thorax and sides pilose ; club ‘of the antenne black. Length about three-fourths of an inch. This species is quite hairy, especially upon the thoracic plate : hairs greenish. Common in July in New-England and New-York. NecropHorus pyemevs ( Rich.). ( Plate xxii, fig. 5.) Black : elytra marked with four angular bright red spots. Length rather more than half an inch. The Necropuaca perform the part of scavengers in destroying and burying carrion. WV. tomentosus takes its trivial name from the yellow hair upon the prothorax. The family Deristip& is also destructive to animal matter : they deposit their eggs in it ; and when they are hatched, they feed upon it; but the dermestes attack and devour any animal food, whether in a state of decay or not. It is supposed that the perfect animal, however, prefers flowers to meat, though we always find it busy in the latter. * Genus SILPHA (Liyy.). ‘ Broadly oval, slightly convex ; antenne gradually thickened, club four-jointed ; thorax ‘ often truncate anteriorly’ ( Westwoop). Sirpna caupata (Say). ( Plate xxii, figs. 3, 7 ) Black. Elytra subquadrate, papillated ; papill in about four rows, placed between sharp ridges ; inner and posterior angle slightly prolonged ; outer angle rounded : thorax tomentose. Length half an inch. SILPHA INEQUALIS. ( Plate xxii, fig. 6.) Insect depressed, black : elytra finely punctured, and traversed by three or four sharp slightly raised ridges. Length half an inch. { AcricutturRAL Rerorr—Vot. v.] 8 ae SILPHA NOVEDORACENSIS. ( Plate xxii, fig. 9.) Body depressed : elytra rufous ; outer margin of the thorax light and rather bright red, black beneath. SILPHA AMERICANA, ( Plate xx, fig. 3.) Depressed, black ; thorax yellow, with a subquadrangular black spot in the centre ; elytra knobby, black or brownish black tipped with yellowish ; outer angles truncate, or rounded from the middle, and slightly notehed at their inner and posterior angles, forming a notch when at rest : they are marked by four rather irregular ridges. Gexus NECRODES ( Wikis). Sivpua ( Linn.). ‘Body oblong; elytra truncate; club-of the antenne gradually thickened ; mavxille ‘ without a claw’ ( Westwoop). NECRODES SURINAMENSIS. ( Plate xx, fig. 4.) Depressed, black : thorax smooth and shining ; elytra marked posteriorly with a short rufous band, and traversed by three strongly marked sharp ridges, black beneath. Nitidulide. Tus family has the habits in part of the silphide, as some of them are found in putrid animal matter, or feeding upon mushrooms ; others, however, frequent flowers. They are oval, broad, and much depressed ; and they have filiform antenne, terminating in a short elub of two or three joints. The thorax is transverse and emafginate : in some, the elytra are short, leaving the abdomen exposed. They are small insects. Gesus NITIDULA. ‘ Body oval, subdepressed ; thorax margined ; tibia compressed ; fourth tarsal joint bi- ‘lobed ; third joint of antenna longer than the fourth’? (Westwoop). NITIDULA BIPUSTULATA. ( Plate xviii, fig. 1.) Oolor of the body and thorax dull brown : central part of the elytra marked by a patch of lighter brown ; margin light brown. Length about two-tenths of an inch. FAMILY ENGID-E, 59 Engide. Tue insects of this family are allied to the Nrriputipm and Dermestipe : from the former, they differ by their elongate form and simple tarsi; and from the latter, by their highly polished bodies, and more developed form of their mandibles ( Westwoop). The Encipa subsist upon wood in a state of decay, or upon fungi, in some species of which many individuals may be found. I procured a large number of individuals belonging to this family, in the gelatinous sap which was slowly oozing from a wound in the trunk of a yellow birch : they are also found under the bark of trees,and never feed upon living or dead animal matters. The anatomical characters, as given for the Excinm proper, are : Antenne short, cla- vate, ten- or eleven-jointed ; maxillary palpi equalling the lobes of the maxille ; labium advanced in front of the mentum ; Jabrum transverse ; mandibles bifid at the tip ; tarsi in some four-jointed, in others five. . Geyxus ENGIS ( Larr.). ‘ Body long ovate, subconvex ; tarsi five-jointed, the fourth joint short ; maxille bilobed ; ‘club of the antenne short, broad, flattened, three-jointed ’ (Wrsrwoop). ENGIS FASCIATA. . ( Plate xxiii, fig. 2.) Thorax black : elytra brick-red, traversed by a broad black belt; posterior extremity black ; inner angles of the elytra black, terminating in a partial crossbar. The pro- portion of black and red upon the elytra is nearly equal. These insects inhabit fungi, or decaying wood under the bark of trees : they are not, however, specially injurious to trees. Genos IPS (Hersst). | The body is oblong and subdepressed ; tibia broad and serrated ; tarsi five-jointed ; lobe of the maxilla broad. Ips FASCIATUS. ( Plate xxiii, fig. 4.) Body oblong, subdepressed ; thorax and head black ; elytra black, with two yellow an- gular spots upon each ; legs short; tibia broad, subserrated ; tarsi pilose. Length two-tenths of an inch. Ips SANGUINOLENTA. ( Plate xxiii, fig. 3.) Mead and thorax black : elytra yellow, with a single round black spot near the middle ; terminal extremity black ; outer and anterior angles black. Insect shining. Ips QUADKISIGNATA. ( Plate’ xxiii, fig. 6.) Head and thorax black : elytra black, with two an spots on each elytrum, shining ; the posterior spot is somewhat oval ; upper and outer angles black. Ips pirUsTULATus. ( Plate xxiii, fig. 8.) Color brown, dull ; elytra marked with two large yellow dots. Length about two and a half lines. Cucujides. Gesxus CUCUJUS. Cotyorem ( Herbst). Antenne short, moniliform or clavate ; basal joint short. Cucusus CLAVIPES. ( Plate xxii, fig. 2.) Depressed, flat or compressed ; color uniform, inclining to brick-red ; abdomen below dark, and nearly black upon the margins. Length about half an inch. DERMESTES LARDARIUS. ( Plate xxii, fig. 5.) Body oval, subeonvex, black, with a gray bar passing across the anterior part of the elytra, in which are three dots on each elytrum. The genus Deamestes is named from derma, a skin, with which the larve make great ravages, eating the surface so as to cause the hair to fall off. The Dermestes lardarius com- mits its depredations in houses, usually in furs, meat, pork, bacon (whence it is sometimes called bacon bug), collections of insects, ete. when stored away without protection. It is about one-fourth of an inch long, nearly black ; the base of the elytra ash-color, with three small black spots. This species is active in attaoking all animal collections of natural history : from this depredator, they are best protected by arsenic. Articles of domestic consumption should be preserved by preventative measures, such as enclosing hams in canvass and white- washing them. The Dermestes vulpinus is distinguished from the /ardarius, by having the elytra entirely black, and the under sides and under parts covered with white seales. It is very destrue- tive to hides, in which it is imported. In France, it has been observed to perforate walls built of stone soft enough to be broken by the nail. It is found in America, Europe and Asia. There are several other insects which are destructive to skins, and to anatomical and natural history collections : one of them is the Anthrenus museorum (Byrr. muscorum, Linn.). It is not a native of this country : it is, however, replaced by the .?. destructor, FAMILY STAPHYLINID. 61 Melsh., which is a short oval insect about one-eighth of an inch in length, of a fuscous color, and marked by several waved whitish fasciz. The larva of another small and much nar- rower insect, Dermophagus tarsale of Mesurier, is also very destructive to entomological collections. ; Staphylinide. Tue cheracteristies of the insects belonging to this family are, their long, narrow, and depressed form; the shortness of their elytra, and hence the great exposure of the ab- dominal segments. Their true wings are closely folded beneath the curtailed elytra, al- though they are large when expanded. Their heads too are remarkably large ; and when set out by their projecting mandibles, it is no easy matter to persuade oneself that it is safe to catch them. Their antenns are not very conspicuous, but are sometimes enlarged towards the extremity. The thorax is strong, and as wide as the first segment of the ab- domen. From the shortness of the wing-covers, the abdomen is equally hard above as beneath, and is not confined by them : it therefore admits of free motion, and is employed as an instrument to assist in folding and unfolding the wings. When the insect is captured, a curious organ protrudes from the extremity of the abdomen, consisting of two vesicles, which are extruded at the will of the inseet, and from which it is not uncommon to per- ceive that a peculiar vapor escapes that is by no means pleasant. Wesrwoop regards this family equal in rank to the Carasma#, and susceptible of sub- divisions of the same value : the name Bracuyrtyrra has been generally employed in denoting it. Grexus STAPHYLINUS (Liyy.). ‘ Body nearly glabrous ; antenne subfiliform, with the fourth and tenth joints subequal ; ‘thorax subquadrate’ (Werstwoop). STAPHYLINUS VILLOsUs. Head and thorax blaek and glossy : back, sides,and abdomen beneath villose, or covered with a dense coat of hair; abdomen banded with greenish buff. Length six-tenths of an inch. STAPHYLINUS CYANIPENNIS. ( Plate xxxi, fig. 6.) Head and thorax black and glossy ; elytra steel-blue ; abdomen hairy and black. STAPHYLINUS CHRYSURUS. ( Plate xxxi, fig. 3.) Above an olive brown, clothed with short yellow hair ; sides and extremity of the abdo- men golden yellow; thighs black, except at their tips, and a dorsal line. . A Aung}! CHAPTER VY. ORDER I. COLEOPTERA ( Continued). — PENTAMERA. Distixcutsueo entomologists have made two grand divisions of the pentamerous insects. Some of the families of the first division have been noticed : the seecnd is equally im- portant with the first, and admits of subdivision into natural groups or families ; but there is some diversity of opinion where the lines bounding these families shall be drawn, and also respecting the best terms for designating them. a A plain and comprehensive subdivision into groups has been made by Srernexs : 1, the CLaviconyes, which are characterized by the antenne terminating in a solid ball, or a perforated one; 2, the Laserticounes, with the antenn@ terminating in a leafy or Jamellated mass; and, 3, the Sexniconnes, having the antennae constructed so that the'r whole length is toothed somewhat like a saw. The Craviconnes are divided into two families : the first contains those insects which resemble the Linnean Genus Bynanus, having straight claviform antenne, and called the Family Byraniox, Leach. The second family have also claviform antenne, but each with a distinct elbow or angle. The Byxanios are small beetles with short oval convex bodies, and generally pilose or hairy : the elytra cover the body, and the legs ean be folded up; when alarmed, it folds them together under its body, and then remains motionless, appearing like a seed, until the danger is past. In this family the antenna become gradually clavate, and the club is not solid. . The second family of elavicornes takes its name from the Genus Histrn : hence the family name Histeaine, Leach. In these, the antenns, instead of being straight, have a sudden or short angle in them, or are said to be elbowed. They aresmall insects, hard and shining or highly polished, and usually black : their forms are somewhat square, but still possess considerable convexity ; their legs are more or less den‘a‘e,ond the two hind ones are set widely apart; the elytra are short, and hence leave a portion of the abdomen exposed. Their elbowed antenna, their polished surfaee and short elytra, clearly distin- guish them from the byrrhidm. GROUP LAMELLICORNES. 63: The Lametiicornes received their name from the structure of their antenne ; the extremity being a laminated knob, composed of three or more leaflike lamin, which open and shut somewhat like the leaves of a book. The first division of this group consists of the Scaranipes, the first section of which are named Coprophagi, from the kind of food on which they subsist : they feed upon and live in ordure, or excrements of all kinds. The ancients gave the name pillularia to certain species which have the curious instinet of rolling the excrement into balls with their hind feet, and in which they have deposited their eggs : when the ball has acquired a sufficient degree of solidity, it is prened into a hole previously prepared for its reception. A foreign species, the Ateuchus sacer, was an object of religious veneration and worship among the ancient Egyptians. With them it was symbolical of the world, the sun, and the warrior : of the world, from the globular shape of its balls, and perhaps also from the progeny they contained ; of the sun, from the angular projections from its head in the form of rays : the six legs havo five tarsi each, and hence they represented the days of the month. The idea of the courageous warrior was imbibed from the supposition that the species were all males. The Roman soldiers wore its image on their signets ; and it is said that it is still a custom with the Egyptian women to eat them, to render themselves pro- lifie : as the sun is the source of all fertility, so the eating of this symbol would impart to them the same desirable quality. When we reflect a moment upon the attention which these curious insects pay to their offspring, and the intense emotion they exhibit in rolling their balls, a work which they prosecute until overcome by exhaustion, it is not at all surprising that the ancients should have made them symbolical of the highest order of qualities. The Copris carolina closely resembles the symbolical beetle of the ancients, just referred to. The Genus Copris makes its abode beneath the fresh excrement of the cow ; and hence its hills of dirt are common in pastures, by roadsides, and other places where the cow is kept. This insect, however, never rolls a regular ball, but collects a quantity into an ir- regularly shaped mass. The true pi//udaria belong to the Genus Grorruprs, and a few other allied genera. The larva of the Gxoraurrs resembles that of the Merotonrna, being of a dirty white color, soft, and, when not engaged in feeding, it lies coiled in a semicircle : they have six scaly feet and a sealy head. Subsisting at first upon the magazine of food which the mother has provided in the offal in which they are enveloped, they afterwards penetrate into the earth, and feed upon roots. It requires a year or two for their perfection : they are then transformed into nymphs; and another year passes, before they are ready to become perfect insects. The Lametticornes consist of ten families, each presenting some peculiarity in the antenne, mandibles or maxille, by due attention to which the student will be able to determine the position an unknown insect may occupy. The first of these ten families is the Lucawinm, taking the fumily name as usual from one of the most important genera it contains : in this instance it is the Lucanus dame, an elongated stout insect, and furnished with strong and projecting mandibles, especially in the males. Their antennw are elbowed, and the terminal knob is constructed after the fashion of the teeth of a comb, or is peetinate : they consist of only three terminal teeth, somewhat separated from cach other, but near enough to come within the definition of emelliccra beetles (See Plate xii, fig. 7, m, 0). The second division of the Lascenticoayes embraces all those beetles whose antenne terminate in leaves or lamell, consisting usually of three pleces, which fold together or lie in contact like the leaves of a book, This division reeeived the name of Petalocera from Dement : it contains many insects which belonged to the genus Scorabaus of Lixyrre. The antenne differ from those of the insects of the Family Lucaxipx, inasmuch as they are not elbowed ; and the number of joints is variable, eight, nine or ten. In some groups, the males are remarkable for their appendages upon the head or thorax, either in the form of horns or protuberances. Some of the largest insects belong to this division. The habits of the insects of this division are various : some, and probably the majority, feed upon refuse matter, some upon excrement, some upon leaves, and others upon flowers. Their larve are conspicuous for their size : they are of a soft consistence, of a whitish color, and furnished with strong mandibles, We find them in the vegetable mould, usually, coiled, or in decaying logs. They have fourteen rings, including the head, and the rings or segments are transversely grooved. From the diversity of character which exists in this great division, it has been subdivided into ten families. The first is the Georaurine : their maxillary lobes are membranous, the mandibles are porrected, and the elytra cover the abdomen ( Plate xii, figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8). _ Their antenns have ten or eleven joints ; and their bodies are globose, or thiek and more — or less rounded and full. Their habits are peculiar : they feed upon excrement, though some are said to feed upon roots. The Scananmio® constitute the second family of this great division. They are furnished with a shieldlike extension in front, the ¢/ypeus, which extends over the mouth ; and their antenne are eight- or nine-jointed, with the end terminating in a three-leaved club. The middle legs are inserted more widely apart than the others : the posterior legs are far behind ; the seutellum is not present; and the elytra are shortened behind, leaving the abdomen exposed. The claws are minute, and the anterior tibie are expanded and tri- dentate externally, armed with a single spur. The insects feed upon excrement, and the greater proportion of the family reside in warm climates. They are many of them ball- rollers; and to aid them in this work, their hindlegs are long and inserted far behind, which gives them a grotesque appearance when walking. They fly mostly by day. ( Plate” xii, figs. 5, 7.) The third family of Macteay is called Arnopups®. They too are excrement-eaters : they are oval and rounded at the posterior extremity. In this family we find the minute instead GROUP LAMELLICORNES. 65 of the large beetles, and they belong to temperate climates : the legs are placed at equal distances apart; the scutellum is distinct; the clypeus is entire, and the antenne are nine-jointed. The body is more elongated than in the former family. The fourth family is small, or of a moderate extent : it is the Trocinm of Macreay. The insects are of a medium size, ovate or gibbous, and the elytra are inflexed at their sides. The scutellum is distinct, and the anterior tibize are imperfectly toothed. The head is deflexed ; thorax short, posteriorly situated, and the anterior angles are advanced : the elytra are rugose. (Plate xxiv, figs. 1 & 3.) The fifth family is the Dynastipm of Mactray. The insects of the family are gigantic, and the males are very strongly identified by prominences and horns upon their heads or thoraces. The jaws are powerful, horny and prominent, and furnished with two teeth ; the scutellum is distinct ; the antenn are ten-jointed, and the elytra are shortened behind, leaving the abdomen exposed : the color is a rich chestnut-brown. The insects reside in rich vegetable matter and in putrid offal, and the family belongs to tropical regions. The Rutizip& constitute the sixth family, which, for the most part, are brilliantly colored. The males are destitute of horns, in which respect they differ from the preceding family. The antenne are ten-jointed, club three-jointed : the mandibles are short, but project more or less from beneath the coriaceous labrum ; they are also notched on the outside near the tip. The elytra do not cover the abdomen. The seventh family is allied to the preceding : it has received the name of Anorto- GNATHID#, and is composed, like the Dynastipa, of foreign species. The eighth family, the MeLotontuip2, constitute a well-known group, which contains numerous indigenous species, with forms as delineated on Plate x, figs. 4 - 6, 9. They are ovate thin beetles, sometimes scarcely thicker behind than before. The labrum is divided into two lobes transversely ; the mandibles are strong and horny, the internal margin acute at the apex. The clypeus is separated by a transverse suture, which runs just before the eyes : antenne 9 — 10-jointed, terminated by a knob composed of a variable number of lamin (from 3 - 7), variable also in form. The anterior margin of the mentum is notched or emarginate. Some of the species are large ; but the colors are not brilliant, the surface being often pubescent and dull. The common horn bectle, or the goldsmith beetle, which fly about in the evening in the months of June and July, may well represent this family : they feed upon flowers or leaves, and are sometimes injurious in this way. Passing the GLarnyrip», the ninth family, which are all foreign to us, we reach the tenth and last family, the Cerontp™, a group which holds ebout the same place in the scale of importance as the Merotontnip%. The antenne are ten-jointed : the labrum is concealed beneath an emarginate clypeus ; the mandibles are comparatively slender, lan- ceolate ; the mentum is pitcher-shaped, and conceals the Jabium ; the secutellum distinct : the elytra do not cover all the abdomen. The insects feed upon flowers, and hence do considerable mischief : their forms are delineated on Plate xii, figs. 4 - 6. [ Acricutturat Rerort— Vor. v.] 9 66 ‘ jap! a re - js CLAVICORNES. Byrrhide. ’ No species of this family have been found in this State. Histeride. : Histex conroamis, : ( Plate xxxi, fig. 8.) Color black : thorax bluish black, smooth, polished ; elytra without punctures, striate ; strie obsolete. Length one-tenth of an inch. LAMELLICORNES. Lucanide. Gexus LUCANUS ( Liss.) ‘Depressed mandibles of the male very large ; female moderate : club of the antenne ‘ four-jointed, pectinated ’ ( Westwoop). Lucaxus pama (Fab.). L. capriolus ( Linn.). ( Plate xii, fig. 7.) The insect is large, dark chestnut-brown, smooth and plain; thighs lighter : mandibles of the male long and powerful; female less powerful than the male. Length about 1} or 1) ineh. : ‘The male Lucanus may be recognized by its large and toothed mandibles, which stand out so prominently in front. The female differs from the male in the smallness of its head, which is partially concealed beneath the labrum and the oblique truncation of the lateral margin of the thorax. There is a considerable variation in the size of the individuals, It is not an uncommon species in New-York and New-England. The larve inhabit the trunks of decaying trees, or in wood. PLATYCERAS PICEUS. ( Plate xii, figs. 10, 11.) The Genus Piarycenas belongs to this group. The mandibles are shorter than those of the Lucanus, in both sexes : it is also a much smaller insect. olor brown; elytra distinetly punctate; mandibles exsert, and each shows a strong curved subcentral tooth ; in the female, the mandibles are shorter and less con- spicuous. Length from one-half to six-tenths of an inch. Fig. 10, male; 11, female, with mandibles, antenn» and an elytrum. FAMILY GEOTRUPIDZ. 67 Geotrupide. GrorRuPES ——. ‘~« ( Plate xii, fig. 2.) Color brilliant steel-blue ; beneath, clothed with yellowish brown hairs. Clypeus rough, with a central pointed tubercle (the thin edge of the clypeus is turned up in front) ; thorax smooth and shining upon its top, but confluently punctured at the margins ; elytra marked with numerous punctate ridges. Length five-tenths of an inch. This species I have been unable to refer to its proper name. “The G. microphagus is dark piceous above and beneath, and the legs are violaceous.” GEOTRUPES SPLENDIDUS. ( Plate xii, fig. 3.) Splendent green; purplish beneath. Thorax rather thickly punctured, and confluent on the sides ; seutellum smooth, or with two or more punctures ; elytra subtuberculated near the outer basal angle, angle somewhat rounded, and their surfaces are marked by rounded ridges punctate in the grooves : body beneath clothed with brown hairs. Length six-tenths of an inch. Genus COPROBIUS ( Larr.). Body ovoid; thorax dilated in the middle; scutellum none * abdomen nearly square ; clypeus bidenticulated. Copropivus L&VIs. Medium size : color dull black, finely punctured ; elytral lines obsolete. The insect has a submetallic hue in some lights, but is generally dull. There are about eight obscure lines upon each elytrum : beneath, the body is naked, or destitute of hairs. This insect is more common here than the Geofrupes. Common in June and July, when they may be seen engaged in rolling a ball of dung containing their ova, and which they finally bury. Arevcnus sacer is a much larger insect, belonging to an allied genus, and is the sacred Scarabeus which entered so largely into the mythology of Egypt. All these species fulfil an important place in the economy of creation ; a fact which is more obvious in tropical regions than in the north. SS —— Se SS YT CCU ll ————————————_ir er OO ee eS Scarabaidie. oe." Gexus ONTHOPHAGUS (Larta.). Cornts (IIL). Body broadly ovate, short, depressed : last joint of labial palpi evanescent; clypeus wider than long, emarginate ; seutellum none. ONTHOPHAGUS HECATR. ( Plate xxxi, fig. 4.) Small : dark brown, covered with white hairs, which give it a hoary appearance. Shield rather pointed and turned up; thorax terminated in a prominent plate, turned up at the angles ; legs ciliated. OstHoriacus ovatus. Rather small, ovoid, brown, smooth above ; hairs sparse upon the legs and beneath. Shield marked with two parallel sharp transverse ridges. Gexus PHAN XUS ( Mc.). Basal articulation of the labial palpi larger than the others, and‘ dilated at its internal edge : scutellum none, but its place is occupied by a small triangular extension of the thorax. Males furnished with tubercles or horns upon the clypeus, and prominences upon the thorax. PHANEUS CARNIPEX. ( Plate xii, fig. 5.) Rather short, wide : elytra shorter than the head and thorax; shield with a single or double prominence behind ; thorax rich purple green, and strongly sculptured ; elytra rich purple-green, punctated and ridged ; beneath green ; upper surface of the legs purple. The males are smaller than the females, and the clypeus is armed with a long and strong horn pointing backwards : in females, it is merely a tubercle, or may be two close together. The thorax of the male presents a broad, flat, nearly semilunar punetate disk. Length seven-tenths of an inch. Occurs rarely in the vicinity of Albany : common in Maryland. Gexus APHODIUS (Iux.). Corns (O1.); Scananavs ( Linn.). Terminal articulation of the palpi cylindrical ; mandibles destitute of a corneous tooth or lobe ; form of the body gibbous. All the species of the genus Arnopius live in the exerements of animals, where they oceur often in great numbers. They are smal! insects, about one-fourth of an inch in length, FAMILY SCARABAIDA. «669 of a cylindrical form : some of the species are spotted, or variously colored. During the days of autumn they take wing in great numbers, flying sluggishly through the air. In Europe, Lethrus cephalotus is said to devour the tender shoots of plants, particularly of vines ; but this seems to be an exception to the habits common to the family. Apnoprius picotor (S.). Quite small, brown or black-brown ; legs and beneath light fusecous : head and thorax fifély punetured ; edges of the elytral ridges finely notched ; clypeus widely emargi- nate. Length one-fifth of an inch. APpHoDIUs STRIGATUS. Small : head and thorax very finely punctured, black, smaller than the preceding, obtuse at both extremities ; elypeus convex ; feet dark piceous ; posterior angles of the thorax rounded. Avnopius TERMINALIS (S.). Small, brown or blackish brown, shining : forelegs hairy ; tips of the elytra and feet rufous ; clypeus tritubereulate and emarginate before ; thorax marked with subequal punctures ; elytra marked with punctured striz. Apuopius copronimus (M.). Quite small, light brown, shining : thorax rather mottled with darker brown, very finely punctured. ApHoprus FeMoRALIs (S.), Blackish brown : edges of the thorax dilated and light brown ; elytra fuscous and lighter in front ; thighs light and translucent. Scarcely one-fifth of an inch in length. Apuopius ATERRIMUs (M.). Small : thorax black ; elytra dark brown ; brown beneath. APHODIUS SERVAL. Brown : head finely punctured ; thorax dark brown; elytra light brown and spotted, three in front, banded in the middle. Genus COPRIS (Georr.). Scaranmus ( Linn.). Body ovate, thick and convex ; knob of the antenne terminating in three leaves ; four hindlegs dilated and truncated ; seutellum none ; articulations of the labial palpi three : the first joint is cylindrical, and not dilated at the internal side. \ Copais CAROLINUS. we ( Plate xii, fig. 8.) oily thick, obtuse behind: elypeus round and entire before, but farnished with a single notch in front of the eye, from which there is a depressed line running backwards, and terminating at the base of the tubercles, the middle of which is much the most prominent and pointed, The front of the thorax rises into a strong serrated ridge, and there are two lateral rounded depressions ; the puneta are fine, and the posterior part is smooth, and marked with a slight central furrow which does not reach the elytra. Elytra strongly furrowed, and punctate. The abdomen appears as if truncat, The color is dark chestnut-brown : body beneath clothed with reddish brown hairs; the margin of the thorax is ciliate. The dilatations of the tibia are similar to flattened funnels ; the tibie of the forelegs are thick, and have four strong notches upon their outer edges, Length one inch. This beetle is common in Virginia and Maryland, but I have not observed it in New- York, though Cetonia and Phaneus, which accompany it there, are not uncommon here. This insect does not roll up a ball, but makes a collection or heap of soft and fresh manure, in which the eggs are deposited. It penetrates quite deeply into the ground be- neath the droppings in pastures and by the roadsides. Trogidae. Trts is a family embracing but a few genera : they are ovate and gibbose, with inflex elytra. The head is deflexed, the thorax short and transverse, and the surface of the elytra rough. The antenn are nine- or ten-jointed, and the extremity is formed of three leaves somewhat distant from each other ; the labrum is coriaceous and exserted ; the labium is concealed by the mentum ; the mandibles are horny, and sometimes toothed. This family is allied to the Grorruripx. The most reliable information is that they feed upon carrion, or decaying animal matter, being found in the careases of dead animals : they have also been found in rotten wood, and at the same time they are known to inhabit sandy places under ground. Some of the family are apterous. Gexus TROX ( Famn.). Scananavs ( Linn.) Antenne ten-jointed ; body subovate, convex ; thorax rugons. Trox rorcates. ( Plate xxiv, fig. iii.) _ Dull brown : elypeus rounded in front, and marked by a shallow transverse groove, angulated in the middle, with small pointed tubercles on the line of flexure ; thorax widely grooved in the middle ; elytra traversed by a series of reticulated lines, forming a species of network upon their surfaces and angles behind. Length half an inch. FAMILY MELOLONTHID®. 71 TROX CAPILLARIS. ( Plate xxiv, fig. 1.) Brown, dull : elytra traversed by several rows of pointed or sharpened tubercles, standing between the fine parallel lines. Length two-fifths of an inch. — Dynastidae. Tuis family embraces the most gigantic beetles known : the genera are also numerous. The antenne are ten-jointed : the first is robust, conie and hairy ; the second, sub- globose ; the next five are short, and the head is composed of three lamine in contact. The clypeus is frequently horned, as well as the thorax : head subtrigonal ; elytia truncate, leaving the end of the abdomen bare. The body is large and thick, the legs strong ; tibize broad and dentate. This singular family have some of the habits of the Georruripm : that of subsisting upon and in the excrement of animals, and decaying refuse matter from the vegetable kingdom. Melolonthidae. Genus SERICA ( Macreay). Scarapamvs (Linn.). ‘Form ovate. Antenne ten-jointed : basal joint the largest ; the second the next, and the ‘ claws bifid : last joint of the palpi subacute’ ( Westwoop). SERICA VESPERTINA. . ( Plate xxiv, fig. 9.) Color light chestnut-brown, uniform : body small; wider behind. Tricutnus ( Tricutus) viripans. ( Plate xxiv, fig. 5.) Color of the head and thorax green : elytra obscurely striped ; margins marked with dark spots; disk ferruginous, truncate, exposing the abdomen, punctured and marked by longitudinal lines ; abdomen hairy. TRICHINUS ASSIMILIS. Color black, hairy and glossy. Elytra marked near their bases with a light brownish patch, from each outer angle of which proceed two white oblique lines that nearly reach the margins ; and from the inner angles, two other white lines arise, which run parallel] with the suture, and do not quite reach the truncated extremity : there is also an obseure line parallel with the last, and about half as long, which may not be constant. Posterior segment of the abdomen clothed with a dense coat of yellowish white hairs : abdomen below shining, and less hairy than the breast. Length rather more than one fourth of an inch. Found in Western Massachusetts. ate ee te ee ee ee ee a. 7. ss. Geses PHYLLOPHAGA ( Hannts). First joint of the antenna largest and clavate ; the fifth aud sixth than the sted, third and fourth ; terminal leaves three or seven : maxillary pa pi four-jointed, the fourth long and ovate : clypeus divided by a transverse suture before the eyes : thorax subquadrate : tibia somewhat dilated ; claws equal, and armed with a nearly central tooth. PHYLLOPHAGA QUERCINA. ( Plate x, fig. 9.) Large : color chestnut brown, uniform; beneath covered with brown hairs, Abdomen naked ; labrum rounded before, and punctured ; elytra punctured, and their tips separated behind. Length about eight-tenths of an inch. PHYLLOPHAGA DRAKE. Large : color rather lighter brown than the preceding. Labrum traversed by a line dividing it into two unequal parts ;: rings of the abdomen finely punctured. This species is rather Jarger than the quercina : length about nine-tenths of an inch. PHYLLOPHAGA HIRTICULA, ’ Noticed by Dr. Hanais, is of a bay brown color, with punctures larger and more distinet than those upon the quercina, and, on each wing-cover, the hairs are arranged in three lines. Length seven-tenths of an inch. Appears in June and July. PHYLLOPHAGA GRORGICANA. Surface covered with short grayish yellow hairs. Length seven-tenths of an inch. It oceurs in New-York. PHYLLOPHAGA PILOSICOLLIS. ( Plate xxiii, fig. 7.) Color pale reddish brown : hairs longest upon the thorax and base of the elytra. Anterior edge of the head entire, rounded and deflected, puncture dilated and shallow ; la- teral edge of the thorax dilated in the middle ; elytra pale, testaceous, densely and equally punctured, and covered with short procumbent hairs. Length half an inch. Say. ' ' Puyttoruaca varioLosa (Knoch.). Melolontha variolosa ( Hentz). This species differs essentially from the foregoing in the form and structure of the antenne, the knob consisting of seven curved elongate leaves. Its color is light brown, with irregular depressions upon the elytra, which appear like accidental flexures or in- dentations made by some external force ; it is clothed with long yellow hairs upon the breast. The elypeus is extended and reflexed, and the sutural line is before its middle. FAMILY MELOLONTHIDA. 73 The hairs, both upon the thorax and elytra, are arranged in four rather interrupted lon gitudinal belts. Length eight- to nine-tenths of an inch. This species I had not observed in the vicinity of Albany till this year, 1853 : many individuals have been taken. It may be remarked that most of the species of this genus are much alike, although generally smaller than that figured. The color varies from yellowish brown to chestnut, according to the species. The breast is more or less hairy, and the elytra are in some cases sparsely furnished with erect hairs. In the larva state they feed upon the roots of grass, and probably of grain, and thus they commit great hayoe upon pastures, whilst the adult insects live upon the foliage of various plants. These beetles are well known in the country by the name of hornbugs, and become troublesome by flying into the open windows where a lamp is burning. Their proper name is May beetle, a designation implying the time of their appearance among us. They are injurious both in their larva and perfect states : in the former, by their depredations upon the roots of grass and other herbage ; and in the latter, by the destruction of the young and tender leaves of fruit and other trees. They are supplied with strong jaws for cutting the leaves of plants, for which they are admirably fitted ; and their feet are strong, and fitted for digging in the soil after their transformations are effected. They were formerly included in the Genus Metotonrna. Maybugs have rarely been sufficiently numerous to inflict serious injury upon the farmer : the Hon. Mr. Bartow, however, records an instance where they did much da- mage in Madison county, in 1849 and 50; they ate the leaves of the cherry, elm, apple, butternut, ete., showing that they are by no means restricted to our cultivated fruit trees. The most effectual method of destroying them was to kindle fires at night in the immediate neighborhood of the trees they were injuring : attracted by the light of the blaze, thou- sands were destroyed with little difficulty, or at a trifling cost. Shaking the trees to dis- lodge them, was an effectual means of turning their attention to the light. They appeared the last of May and first of June, and continued from eight to twelve days. Another instance is related by Dr. Fircu in the Journal of the New-York State Agri- cultural Society, where the Phyllophaga quercina appeared in great numbers and suddenly. He states that on the farm of Mito Incauspe, an orchard, consisting of about seventy plum together with many cherry trees, had their limbs stripped of leaves, buds, ete. while they were in bloom : the bugs were hatched out in the course of two nights, and completely destroyed all hopes of fruit for the season, even if the trees themselves survived defoliation. The duration of the individual life of this insect is short, a week or two being the term during which it lives : there is, however, a succession of individuals of the species, so that the period which they remain is more than a month. After the pairing of the sexes, [ Aericotturat Rerort — Vot. v.] 10 7 “ORDER COLEOPTERA. the male soon dies, and the female perforates the soil to the depth of a foot, where she deposits her eggs ; they are then abandoned, and she retarnso the surface to short time, when sho also perishes. The eggs are sald to hateh in about fourteen days. The grubs are whitish, and provided with six legs situated near the head, and a pair of strong jaws ; their heads are brown. These are the grubs that are frequently ploughed up in old fields, of a grayish white color, an inch or more in length and a quarter of an inch thick : thoy lie flexed in the form of a circle. They live during the summer near the surface, subsisting upon the roots of plants, which they devour in large quantities : as winter approaches, they deseend below the reach of frost, where they become torpid. Three or four seasons are spent in this way, till finally they form a ball of an oval shape, in which they enclose themselves and undergo their transformation. The ravages of this grub may be much diminished by allowing crows and jays to frequent the grounds infested by them : indeed it is the most feasible way of getting rid of them; and although most farmers and gardeners carry on an exterminating war with crows and blackbirds, yet these blackcoated vagabonds, as Witson calls them, are by no means such great rascals as they are represented : they have redeeming qualities, and the destruction of grubs and wireworms are real benefits which they confer upon the farmer. The beetles themselves are devoured by skunks. The beetles of this genus have been very abundant at distant intervals : almost in- credible accounts are given of their numbers, especially of the European species. Among the numerous remedies recommended for destroying the larva, ploughing, no doubt, would have the effect of throwing many of them within the reach of frost ; but if done too early, they would have time to bury themselves again. The larve and perfeet insects are frequently seen when the ground is broken up in the spring; and many are then destroyed by crows and blackbirds, which follow the ploughman to gather whatever may be exposed suitable for their sustenance ; they are also destroyed by foxes, weasels, owls, and, according to Dr. Hanars, the skunk. ; The following extracts are from Lovupoy’s Magazine of Natural History, Vol. vi, p. 142 -4 : the rook isa species of crow. ‘A strong prejudice is felt by many persons against rooks, on account of their destroying grain and potatoes ; and so far is this carried, that I know persons who offer a reward for every rook that is killed on their land; yet so mistaken do I deem them, as to consider that no living ereature is so serviceable to the farmer, except the live stock he keeps on his farm, as the rook. In the neighborhood of my native place is a rookery in which it is estimated there are ten thousand rooks; that 1 1b. of food a week is a very moderate al- lowance for each bird; and that nine-tenths of their food consist of worms, insects, and their larve : for although they do considerable damage for a few weeks in seedtime and a few weeks in harvest, particularly in backward seasons, yet a very large proportion of their food, even at these seasons, consis!s of insects and worms, which (if we except a few FAMILY MELOLONTHIDE. 75 acorns in aufumn) form at all other times the whole of their subsistence. Tere, then, if my data be correct, there is the enormous quantity of 480000 Ibs. or 209 tons of worms, insects and their larvae, destroyed by the birds of a single rookery ; and to every one who knows how very destructive to vegetation are the larve of the tribes of insects (as well as worms) fed upon by rooks, some slight idea may be formed of the devastation which rooks are the means of preventing. I have understood that in Suffolk, and in some of the southern counties, the larvee | of insects allied to Lachnosterna| are so exceedingly abundant that the crops [of grain] are almost destroyed by them, and that their ravages do not cease even when they have attained to a winged state. Various plans have been proposed to put a stop to their depredations ; but I have little doubt that their abundance is to be attributed to the searcity of rooks, as I have somewhere seen an account that rooks in those counties are not numerous. ‘A flight of grasshoppers visited Craven, and they were so numerous as to create con- siderable alarm among the farmers : they were, however, soon relieved from their anxiety ; for the rocks flocked in from all quarters by thousands and tens of thousands, and devoured them so greedily that they were destroyed in a short time. ‘Tt was stated in a newspaper a year or two baele, that there was such an enormous quantity of caterpillars upon Skiddaw, that they devoured all the vegetation on the mountain, and people were apprehensive that they would attack the crops in the enclosed lands ; but the rooks, having discovered them, in a very short time put a stop to their ravages. ‘An extensive experiment appears to have been made, the result of which has been the opinion that farmers do wrong in destroying rooks, jays, sparrows, and indeed birds in general,.on their farms, particularly where there are orchards, That birds do mischief oceasionally, there can be no doubt; but the harm they do in autumn is amply com- pensated by the good they do in spring, by the destrnetive hayoc they make among the insect tribes. The quantity of grubs destroyed by rooks, and of caterpillars and their grubs by the various small birds, must be annually immense. Other tribes of birds, which feed on the wing, as swallows and martins, destroy millions of winged insects. Even some, usually supposed to be so mischievous in gardens, have actually been proved only to destroy those buds which contain a destructive insect. Ornithologists have of late de- termined these facts to be true ; and officers would do well to consider them, before they waste the public money in paying rewards to idle boys and girls for the heads of dead birds, which only encourages children and other idle persons in the mischievous employ- ment of fowling. On some very large farms in Devonshire, the proprietors determined, a few years ago, to try the result of offering a great reward for the heads of rooks ; but the issue proved destructive to the farms, for nearly the whole of the crops failed for three succeeding years, and they have since been Jorced to import rooks and other birds to re-stock their farms with? 76 ORDER COLEOPTERA. me AREODA LANIGERA. ' (Plate x, fig: 4.) Large, golden yellow and immaculate ; seutellum and thorax give a green reflexion, brassy in certain lights, Elytra terminated by 6 CORDS Seg SaaS ew eer minenee behind, densely haired beneath. It is one of the most common and beautiful beetles of this country. It takes its — name /enigere, wool-bearing, from the dense woolly coating with which its abdomen and parts beneath are supplied ; it is also called the goldsmith beetle, from its beautiful color above ; though this name is likewise applied to the Gymnetis nitida, which is about the same size, and of a greenish color margined and varied with fulvous. It may be reeognized by wanting the triangular scutellum at the inner base of the elytra, this portion having bo apparent juncture with the prothorax. The “reoda is about nine-tenths of an inch long, broad oval in shape, of a lemon-yellow color above, burnished like gold on the top of the head and thorax : the underside of the body is copper-colored, and thickly covered with whitish wool ; and the legs are brownish yellow, or brassy, shaded with green. ‘These fine beetles begin to appear in Massachusetts about the middle of May, and continue generally till the twentieth of June. In the morning and evening twilight they come forth from their retreats, and fly about with a humming and rustling sound among the branches of trees, the tender leaves of which they devour. Pear-trees are particularly subject to their attacks ; but the elm, hickory, poplar, oak, and probably also other kinds of trees are frequented and injured by them. During the middle of the day they remain at rest upon the trees, clinging to the underside of the leaves ; and endeavor to conceal themselves by drawing two or three leaves together, and holding them in this position with their long unequal claws. In some seasons they occur in profusion, and then may be obtained in great quantities by shaking the young trees on which they are lodged in the daytime, as they do not attempt to fly when thus disturbed, but fall at once to the ground. The larve of these inseets are not known : probably they live in the ground, upon the roots of plants.’ Harris’s Report, p. 22 -3. This insect seems to be local in its distribution, as it oceurs plentifully in the publie snares of Philadelphia, whilst it is rare in the interior of Pennsylvania. PeLipNoTA PUNCTATA. ( Plate x, fig. 6.) Large, fuscous brown and uniform : head greenish behind, extending along the sides. Sides of the insect marked with four black spots, one upon the thorax, and three upon the elytra and standing in a line; beneath, the color is green, glossy or sub- metallic. The rings of the abdomen are marked each with a single row of punctures. The P. puncteta is a fine beetle, with elytra of a pale brown or tile-color, and marked as described above ; the thorax is darker than the elytra; beneath, the body is brassy green. They ‘ly by day, and feed almost exclusively on the leaves of the grape, and hence FAMILY MELOLONTHID&. ys may prove injurious to the vine : still their numbers are rarely such as to render them a formidable foe. The only mode of destroying them, which is recommended, is to pick them off and crush them under the foot. The larve are scarcely injurious, inasmuch as they live in rotten wood, as stumps of trees, and such trunks as are decaying upon the ground : they may be regarded rather as beneficial, by aiding the entire destruction of that which only cumbers the ground. The perfect insect prevails during the months of July and August. P. macutarta, an allied species or variety, has the legs and extremity of the abdomen of the same color as the upper parts. ‘These beetles fly by day, but may also be seen at the same time on the leaves of the grape, which are their only food : they sometimes prove very injurious to the vine. The only method of destroying them, is to pick them off by hand, and crush them under foot. The larve live in rotten wood, such as the stumps and roots of dead trees, and do not differ essentially from those of other searabeans’ ( Harats, p. 23). In the variety which Dr. Metsuermer has designated impunctata, the spots are absent. Genus CREMASTOCHEILUS ( Knocn). Thorax quadrangular, anterior angles prolonged; first joint of the antenne dilated : mandibles terminating in a strong curved or scythe-like tooth, and furnished with small spines in place of the internal lobe ; last articulation of the palpi long and cylindrical : mentum a reversed heart in form; upper angles rounded, without emargination (Régne Animal). CREMASTOCHEILUS HENTZII. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 2.) Color black ; form quadrate, sides parallel ; upper surface punciured : elytra ridged and coarsely punctured. The whole surface is clothed with procumbent hairs ; beneath, they are stiff, or somewht spinous. Length one-half of an inch. OsmopeRMA scaper. Gymnotus s. (Kirby); Trichius s. ( Palisot de Beauy.). : ( Plate xii, fig. 9; and plate xxv, fig. 5.) Color black, or very dark brown and brassy. Body ovate, flattened ; thorax round, dilated transversely, purplish, strongly punctured, and marked by two rounded ridges before ; elytra deflexed at the shoulders and behind; surface sculptured, and rather rough than punctured ; seutellum very acute : beneath dark brown, smooth and glossy ; legs long, purplish ; tibiw trispinous upon their outer edges. The female is larger than the male, and measures an inch in length; the male, about eight-tenths of an inch. The name Osmoderma, given by the French naturalists, is indica- tive of the odor the insect imparts to the hands ‘when handled. They fly by night, and are common in New-England and New-York in the month of July. 78 “ORDER COLEOPTERA. Mr. Hanuis mentions another species, called the O. erenicola +: its color is deep maho- gany brown, smooth, polished ; the male has a deeper tint the middle of the thorax. Gexus DICHELONYCILA ( Hauais). “ Labrum transverse, lanceolate ; mandibles short, trigonal, incurved, acute and seothanns maxille minute, linear, bidentate, teeth short; first joint of the palpi minute, the second longer than the third : antenn# nine-jointed, It is more quadrangular and elongated than the Genus Macrovacrytus. Dicuetox vena ELONGATA. ( Plate xxv, fig. 1. 5 Color light brown : body quadrate, or with parallel sides, and the head extremity equal- ling the base ; elytra punctured, and marked with a greenish stripe. Length rather more than one-fourth of an inch. - Grexus EUCHLORA ( Macrteay). Awomara ( Mergerle). Evcutora oxtens (Gr.). ( Plate xxiv, fig. 6. Yellowish brown; back part of the head, and central part of the thorax, shaded darker brown ; elytra bordered with brown. Var. atrata. Darker brown, nearly black (fig. 8). Gesxos HOPLIA ( Itx1e.). ‘ Antenn# ten-jointed ; claws simple, but unequal’ ( Westwoop). Hortia tarrasctata (S.). ( Plate xxiv, fig. 4.) Rufous : surface thickly covered with scale-like grains, with downy hairs ; beneath silvery, or rather brassy. Elytra traversed transversely by three paler bars, confluent with the darker : post-abdomen covered with brassy granules, similar to the abdomen ; legs very long. Female darker than the male. Length one-fourth of an inch. Macropacryivus supsprnosa (Latr.). Melolontha s. (Fab.). (Pl. v, fig. 13.) Color yellow or ashen or drab, and clothed with a short dense down. It is slender before, but comparatively thick, full and obtuse behind, but tapers gently from the base of the elytra to the extremity of the abdomen, the point of which is exposed : labrum projecting over the mouth ; thorax protuberant laterally, becoming spinous ; elytra covered closely with drab-colored hairs, nearly covering the extremity of the abdo- men : beneath, the abdomen protuberant and greenish; legs long, rufous, and but sparsely hairy ; joints of the tarsi dark brown, and surrounded with small spines : this is more conspicuous upon the hindlegs. FAMILY MELOLONTHID. 79 The rosebug, or cherrybug, as it is called, is very destructive. Its generic name Macro- dactylus, is derived from the length of the feet ; and its specific or trivial name subspinosus, from an incipient spine or swelling upon the sides of the prothorax. It is of a dull yellow color, about three-eighths of an inch long, and appears in great abundance in the spring, destroying roses and the blossoms of various plants, as well as the foliage of fruit trees, including the apple, cherry, plum, and that of the grape. Dr. Harris has the credit of being the first to give a satisfactory history of this insect, as published in his Report. I have been in the habit of destroying this insect, as well as the Eriosema mali, or the appletree blight, by hand-crushing. When there is little or no grass beneath the trees, they may be beaten down and crushed with the foot; the best time being the morning, when they are somewhat torpid. They may be collected upon sheets, or in vessels with a little water to prevent their escape ; to be subsequently burned or scalded. Plants infested should be visited once or twice a day, and every effort made, by destruction of the present brood, to diminish that of the next season. Gexus CETONIA ( Far.). Antenne short, the basal joint largest and robust, glabrous ; the head three-leayed, elon- gated : palpi short, last joint cylindric tapering ; mandibles short ; elypeus quadrate, entire in front ; thorax subtrigonal; elytra sinuate at the outer margin near the base ; seutellum elongate end acute ; sternum produced and rounded anteriorly. Ceronia rnpa. Scarabeus indus ( Lin.) ( Plate xii, fig. 6.) Body ovate and rather depressed, pilose above and beneath. Clypeus deflexed and trun- cate : thorax subtriangular, sinuate before, centre of the sinus subdentate, broadly sinuate behind for the reception of the seutel ; seutel an isosceles triangle ; elytra light brown with black spots scattered over their disks and sides, margins sinuate, behind truncate, exposing the abdomen; legs hairy and brown; abdomen brown, glossy. The thorax is more densely clothed with hairs than the elytra ; the latter are sprinkled with spots and dotswhich are nearly black, some angular, and others sinuate. Color of the abdomen and legs nearly uniform : the thorax is also spotted beneath the hairs; the sinuated base is naked and fuscous. Length six-tenths of an inch. This insect appears twice in the season ; first in March.or April, and last in September : the latter, as Dr. Haxxis supposes, is a newly hatched brood, as at no time during the summer is an individual to be found. These insects appear upon various autumnal flowers, as the goldenrod, in search of pollen and honey, and are fond of the sap and sweet juices of trees and plants. They are charged, however, with frequenting orchards and feeding upon the ripening fruits : par- ticularly do they select the best peaches, which, if they do not entirely devour, they greatly injure by biting them. The distinguished naturalist last above named mentions that he has taken a dozen from a single peach. When cold weather approaches, they are supposed to secure themselves in some shel- tered place, and pass the winter. The March brood, as I have often observed, appear to issue directly from the ground ; and at numerous places they may be seen in numbers, flying low, and hovering over the ground like humblebees, upon whieh they alight and are lost in the dead grass and leaves, or penetrate again into the earth. The genera of this family are numerous, and are known as flower beetles. The European species Cetonia (Epicometis) hirta is said to destroy apricot blossoms in Malta; and another, Cetonia cardui, visits beehives,and destroys the wax and honey (Revue Zoologique, vii, 96). Plates of lead, with small perforations for the bees, were put over the place of ingress; but the cetoni# soon enlarged them : zine was then substituted, and found to answer as a protection. Ceronta ruxora ( Fab.). ( Plate xii, fig. 4.) Body depressed, ovate. Head small, green above : thorax triangular and brilliant green, margined with luteous ; its sides are also slightly dilated ; base slightly sinuons for the reception of the seutel, which is an isosceles triangle and green. Elytra luteous, sometimes they show a greenish tint, truncate and deflexed behind : at the deflexure they are prominent ; the prominence terminates an obscure ridge which runs from the shoulders of the elytra; the suture is also elevated, so as to form a central ridge. Behind, the abdomen is marked with four triangular mouldy spots : spots similar to these extend along the sides of the abdomen ; legs luteons, glossy ; sides of the breast hairy ; tarsi and base of the cubits brown, nearly black. Length six-tenths of an inch. This insect, which is very common in Maryland, is not very numerous, as I have observed, in New-England and New-York : it is more common in the paths in groves than elsewhere. CHAPTER VI. oy ORDER I. COLEOPTERA (Continued). PRIOCERATA. Tue next subtribe of pentamerous beetles is named Priocerata by Mr. Westwoop (Serri-, cornes, Latr.). They comprise those families whose antenne are short, or only of a moderate length, with an equal thickness throughout, and generally attenuated at the tip rather than thickened : they are eleven-jointed, but their peculiar characteristic consists in being serrated upon their inside ; hence the name serricornes by Larner : in the males, they are sometimes pectinated. The insect has two short robust maxillary and labial palpi : body elongate and narrow ; elytra narrowed behind, covering the abdomen. The Priocerata are divided into two sections, the Macrosterni and the Aprosterni, by Westwoop. The first comprises the old genera Burrestis and Exarer, the consistence of whose bodies is firm, and their forms elliptic and elongate, but narrowed behind : their legs are short, and either partially or wholly retractile ; and their heads are short, and are received into a cylindrical excavation in the prothorax, or in front up to their eyes. The pectus advances beneath the mouth, and is also produced behind to a point. These beetles, for beauty and splendor of coloring, are among the finest of the class of insects : they are rich in the metallic hues which ornament their bodies and elytra. They fly swiftly, but walk slowly, from the shortness of their legs. They make their escape, when in danger of being captured, by falling suddenly into the grass and weeds. The Burrestipx, or bupestrians, have an oval form, being widest behind the thorax and obtuse before, but narrower behind and frequently acute : their bodies are also wider than deep, with a thorax wider behind than before. The head, according to the typical character of the family, is sunk into the thorax up to the eyes : the antenne are short, and serrate on the inside. The thorax is widest behind, and fits very closely to the base of the elytra. The legs are set widely apart, and are short, and hence their stand is firm : the soles of the fourth joints of the feet are furnished with spongy cushions, and the foot terminated with two claws : the seutel is small. The insects are rarely seen, except in hot sunny days, when they may be found on fences, limbs of trees, or sides of houses, basking in the sun : they never fly in the night. [AcricuttruraL Report — Vo. v.] 11 Although the buprestidw are among the most elegant and beautiful of the coleoptern, yet their Jarv@ are one and all more or less injurious to fruit and forest trees, The eggs of the female are deposited upon the trunks and limbs of trees, and, when hatched, the young grubs penetrate slowly through the bark ; and as they are often many years in coming to maturity, time and opportunity is = for extensive injury : it is here they undergo their transformation. The larve of this natural family of insects have a very close resemblance to each other, and hence a brief description of a single species will be sufficient to convey an idea of their general characteristics. These larve, then, are white or yellowish white, rather long, narrow and somewhat flattened, and furnished each with a small brown head sunk into a suddenly and abruptly widened out thorax, conveying at first view the impression that the head is very large, whereas it is only two or three of the last rings that are thus suddenly widened out and enlarged ; the upper jaws are supplied with three black teeth. There are no legs or other apparatus for locomotion, except two tubercles placed on the under side of the second from the thorax. When drawn out of its burrow, the larva progresses by a kind of wriggling motion, frequently rolling over, though not so often as the more eylin- drical larva of the boring coleoptera. They are found both beneath the bark and in the wood : under the bark, they lie partly coiled, or in the form of a semicircle. The pupa — bears a very close resemblance to the perfect insect : it is found very near the outer surface of the bark, so that when the transformation is complete, the insect has only to perforate a thin scale of bark to escape from its prison into open day. The oaks, hickories and pines are the kinds of trees most usually infected with the bupestrian larve ; and, unfortunately, our knowledge of the ways and means by which these larve may be destroyed are few and uncertain : the knife and wire are the only infallible means to remove them, when once they are in possession of the premises. Our preventive means, however, in the case of fruit, are more effectual ; such as scraping and washing the trunk and large limbs, at those seasons of the year when they are known to deposit their eggs. This kind of care and attention is rarely bestowed except in the spring, which, so far as the family of borers is concerned, is perfectly ineffectual, as their eggs are laid in the months of June, July and August. The perfect insect, though it may feed on leaves, is comparatively harmless. There is, however, no provision which is so important to keep in check the ravages of these and all other insects, as the preservation and pro- tection of birds. The woodpecker in particular deserves the protection of the farmer, in- asmuch as it is eminently successful in detecting the presence of the larve of the borers, as well as very expert in dragging them from their burrows. FAMILY BUPRESTID®. 83 Buprestide. Gexus BUPRESTIS ( Lryy.). Antenne subfiliform, serrated in both sexes ; basal joint elongate, subclavated ; terminal one small. Palpi, maxillary subfiliform, the terminal joint slightly tumid ; labial, minute, the labrum attenuated and slightly emarginated in front. Mandibles slightly bifid at the apex : maxille small, somewhat bilobed at the tip. Head deflexed, short, retuse : thorax with the posterior margin closely applied to the base of the elytra ; the latter elongated, trigonate, entire or serrated : legs slender; tarsi with the pe- nultimate joint bilobed ( Steruens). A. Elytra dentate, and serrate at the apex. Burrestis (CHALcopHORA) vireiica ( Drury). ( Plate v, fig. 5.) Form oval : color dark brown and sometimes almost black, with brassy metallic reflec- tions, more distinet beneath. Surfaces, above and beneath punctured ; above, sculp- tured in interrupted parallel lines. Top of the head deeply indented longitudinally ; indentation linear, and extending to the front. Thorax marked by three distinct eminences, one of which is central. Elytra margined, sculptured or interruptedly ridged ; base coarsely plicated ; outer angle rounded and serrate ; inner angle ter- minated by a very short spine : the under side is furnished with a short whitish down. It is nearly an inch in length, and quite robust. The larve inhabit pine trees, to which they are very injurious. The perfect insect ap- pears in June. Buprestis FULVO-GuTTATA (Harris). B. americana ( Kirby). Above black bronze; underneath metallic, glossy, punctured. Scutellum very small. Thorax marked by waving transverse lines. Elytra granulated and ornamented with six yellowish spots, but variable in number; tops rounded : underside of the ab- domen, near the extremity, thickly punctured. Length 3- to 4-tenths of an inch. The forelegs in this species are without teeth. It is the B. drummondi of the fourth vo- lume of the Fauna Boreali Americane. Found upon trunks of the white pine in June. Burrestis (ANopiis) Fascrata ( Fab.). ( Plate v, fig. 1.) Flattened above. Color fine brilliant green, nearly of one uniform tint, punctured above and beneath. Mandibles stout and black : eyes black, ovate : thorax has four slight depressions : scutellum small and triangular. Elytra finely lined, and marked by transverse yellow bands : the first is a mere oblong transverse spot, near the middle ; the largest, is an undulating band extending nearly across the elytrum, and the last is a spot near the apex : the spots are surrounded with a black glossy border. The apex has a steel-blue reflexion, and is bidentate. This is one of the finest beetles belonging to this family : it varies in length from four to six-tenths of an inch, The bands are variable in number : they are found some with three, others with two, which is the most common, and still another variety bas only one. [ I have observed, in some of the plates, the color of the figure is ms hace the green too indistinct. | Berrestis ——. ( Plate xxxi, fig. 11.) Slightly depressed, widened posteriorly and punctured. Mandibles narrow, black ; beneath purplish green :; eyes black : antenne green ; head and thorax green, eupreous and metallic. Elytra bordered with metallic purple ; disk green, forming a middle lon- gitudinal band; also marked with four elevated lines, truncate, and terminated at the inner angle with a minute spine. This beautiful species was found at Albany : its elytra are finely bordered with purple ; the sutural line is divided into two near the base, and is dotted between. It appears to be rare, as it is the only one I have seen in any of our collections. Buraestis (Cunysonorinis) pentires (Germar). ( Plate v, fig. 2.) Depressed or flattened, oblong oval, purplish copper-color above ; beneath copper-colored, finely punctured. Surface covered in patches with a kind of shagreen. Thorax marked with two elevated lines : elytra rounded behind. This species is still less convex than the divaricata : its metallic hues are less distinct, it is destitute of denticles at the apex of, the wing-covers, its eyes are much smaller, and its mouth differently constructed. It inhabits the different species of oaks, and is not found about our fruit orchards or gardens. It is the B. characteristica of Hannus ( New-England Farmer, Vol. viii, p.2). Burrestis (Cuaysonotinis) remorata ( Fab.). » (Plate y, fig. 3.) Rather depressed. Color black and bronzed above, glossy and metallic beneath : upper side the abdomen is green, punctured above and underneath. Eyes gray. Head is marked with an elevated line, and covered with short whitish hairs in front. Elytra rounded ; the posterior edge subserrate, or scarcely serrated. This species is smaller than the dentipes. It has a well marked tooth inside of the thigh of the forelegs. The elytra are rather shorter than the abdomen, and have an approach to three pair of impressed gray transverse spots. It varies in size ; not exceeding, however, half an inch in length. I took many individuals of this species in Canandaigua several years since, in June, upon a black oak, The foregoing species appear to be widely distributed. FAMILY BUPRESTID. 85 B. Margin without serratures. Burrestis pivaricata (Say). Cherrytree Buprestis. ( Plate v, fig 4.) Convex ; greenish cupreous above, purplish and metallic beneath, confluently punctured above and beneath. Elytra attenuate, divaricate or divergent at their tips : thorax indented before the seutel ; scute] small and indented : elytra marked with lines and with abbreviated elevations ; tips narrowed and prolonged beyond the abdomen, and truncate and submucronate on the inner side. Length seven-tenths of an inch. According to Say, it resembles the /urida of Fapricivs in general appearance. Burrestis turipa ( Fab.). Above dull brassy ; beneath brassy with purplish hues and bright, confluently punctured above and beneath. Mandibles black : eyes dark brown or black : thorax dilated before its middle, coarsely sculptured, and impressed with grooves rather than lines. Elytra coarsely sculptured, marked with wider abbreviated lines, and connected by branching ridges; behind they are slightly attenuate, projecting just beyond the pointed abdomen, and terminated with two submucronate points. This species differs from the former, in being destitute of lines, having fewer confluent punctures, coarseness of the markings, less attenuated tips of the elytra, and their ter- mination in two short spines instead of one. The larva is described by Mr. Harris as destructive to the pignut hickory : it is of a yellowish white ; long, narrow, depressed in form, and abruptly widened at the anterior extremity : head brown, small, and deeply sunk in the forepart of the first segment; jaws three-toothed, black : no legs, nor sub- stitutes except two small warts on the underside of the second segment of the thorax. These grubs exist in the wood and beneath the bark, sometimes in great numbers : the pupa resembles the perfect insect. AGRILUs RUFICOLLIS, a member of the Family Burrestrp», was described by Professor Havpeman in the American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science, Vol. iv, p. 200, fig. 1, as follows : ‘This little insect, so hurtful to the raspberry, is about three lines long ; black, minutely punctured, thorax and front brassy ; front with a vertical impression : a wide shallow impression across the thorax posteriorly, and another at the base of the elytra. In this particular case, the knowledge of the appearance of the insect is not es- sential, as far as the means of preventing its depredations are concerned, although it is always interesting to know whence an injury proceeds. ‘In its larva state, Agrilus ruficollis lives at the expense of the cultivated Rubus (rasp- berry), in the heart of which the pupa may be found in the month of May, the imago appearing in June. The larva bores between the wood and bark, injuring the plant, and causing a wide unsightly excreseence : it next penetrates to the pith, which it traverses for two or three feet, finally excavating a cavity in which it undergoes its transformations.’ 86 ORDER COLEOPTERA. Elateridx. Tue most distinct characters of this fumily are found in the form and structure of the posterior part of the thorax and sternum ; the sides of the former are prolonged into 4 tooth, and the latter is produced into a spine which fits into a groove of the abdomen. This arrangement of parts enables the insect, when upon its back, to spring upwards and alight upon its feet : this is the only mode by which it can recover its standing, when accidentally upset ; and from this circumstance these inspects are called spring beetles, or snapbugs. Their anteune are short and filiform, and either serrate or pectinate ; the palpi terminate with a triangular or reniform joint ; the mandibles are bifid at the apex : bedy linear and depressed ; thorax with the hinder and lateral angles produced into a point ; the margin is also grooved for the reception of the short antennw. The sternum is produced behind into a spime, which fits into a groove in the base of the abdomen. The females are furnished with a tripartite ovipositor. In this family, as in the preceding, the head is received into the thorax deeply, and the legs and antenne are short and slender. The larve live upon the roots of vegetables, wood, etc., and are very injurious to corn and herbaceous roots. They are known in New-York and New-England by the name of wireworms, from their form and hardness : they resemble, however, a species of Iuivs, which belongs to the Class Myriapopa, and should therefore not be confounded with it ; a mistake which it is quite unnecessary to commit, as the myriapod has many feet, while the wireworm has only six. Although the elateridw, in their perfect state, are closely allied to the buprestide, yet their larve have feet, while the larve of the latter family are destitute of them : so the enlargement or dilatation near their heads is equally distinctive ; but there is one kind of resemblance common to both, for they both live several years in the larval state,and hence have abundance of time to do much injury. When a field becomes infested with wire- worms, the indian corn and other cultivated crops are often entirely destroyed, and many times require replanting. The larva eats either through the kernel after it is swollen, or else through the young shoot. I have seen two wireworms in the same swollen kernel. They attack grass, and all the cereals; and in consequence of their long continuance in this state, the soil becomes infested with them. : Soils which are the most infested with these larve are usually poor; and one of the most effective modes that can be adopted in the cultivation of such land, is to enrich it. Another mode which aids very materially in the extirpation of the wireworm, is to plough late in the fall : it is supposed that by exposing the ground freely to the action of frost, the larve must perish from cold. FAMILY ELATERID. 87 ’ Much has been said in the agreultural journals about the use of substances supposed to be noxious to this insect, still there is no proof that any such remedy has been effectual. Salt is usually relied on, but experience does not sustain its use. So far as salt contributes to the amount of fertilizing matter, it will prove useful : beyond that, it is useless. In gardens where these lary are common, Mr. Harris recommends the English mode of extirpating them : this mode consists in baiting them with slices of potatoes or turnips, which are scattered over the ground at night. Early in the morning the larve are found above ground feeding upon the bait, when they are collected and destroyed. Gexus ELATER. This genus is characterized by the shortness of the antenne, which have a short robust basal joint, the second and third joints small and subglobose, and with their margins serrate upon their outer sides. Head small and retracted ; eyes small : thorax gene- rally elongate, with the posterior angles produced : body only slightly convex, linear elongate, sometimes subovate : legs short; tarsi simple. Exarer (Axavs) ocunatus ( Fab.). ( Plate v, fig. 6.) Form elongate, depressed. Color black, sprinkled with gray. Head small : thorax large, quadrangular, and marked by two ovate black velvety spots situated rather in ad- vance of the middle. Elytra are marked with slender lines ; posterior angles rounded. The underside of the body, and of the legs, is covered with a gray mealy substance. This singular beetle is found in midsummer upon walls and fences. It is one of our largest beetles ; varying, however, from 1} to 1} inches in length : the largest specimens are nearly half an inch wide. It is glossy black, powdered with white specks. The head has a deep wide impression ; the prothorax is an oblong parallelogram, and the eyelike spots are surrounded by a white ring. It is widely distributed, as I have found it south and north. It appears, therefore, at different times in different latitudes : in North-Carolina, the last of May ; in Pennsylvania, in June; and in New-York and New-England, in July and August. Mr. Hatpeman has found the larva of this beetle in ash trees in an incipient decay : it is of various sizes. Mr. Harris has found the larva in old apple trees : it is not, therefore, confined to a single species of trees. In old trees infested with them, it is recommended to remove and burn them. The larve are of a yellowish white color, or reddish ; and, when fully grown, the largest individuals measure two and a half inches in length. The head is rough, brown and broad ; the mandibles are strong and curved : they have six legs, and the last segment of the body is furnished with a prop foot ; and the sides are armed with hooks and short spines. thd Exvaten ( Pynorionvs) xoctitecrs. — species is noticed merely to state the fact that some of the spines are phosphore- : they constitute the fire beetles of the West Indies, and feed upon the sugur cane. They eel the elt frm ot atte elke pts ie oto it so also it is emitted from the segments of the body. Evaren ( Me.asorus) communis ( Schonherr). Color light brown, hairy, subacute behind : thorax furrowed in the middle ; elytra, at their bases, are marked with about five sulel, Length half an inch. It is common during the spring and summer months. wd *. “? . ‘ ’ ' A Exaren ( MeLanotus) GLANpICOLOR. ( Plate v, fig. 9.) Color brown ; head small ; head, thorax, elytra and abdomen covered with white or ash gray hairs. Elytra narrowed behind ; anterior margin or base marked with 3 short sulci. Exvarer ( Mecaxorus) crxexevs. Color brown; hairy. Thorax punctured, and marked by about ten dies cross lines ; they give the appearance of a reticulated structure. Length about half an inch, and is found in April, May and June. Exater ( Lvuprvs) arrresstrnons (Say). Color chestnut-brown, but hoary from being clothed with short yellow Silbaiia hairs ; cylindrical, slender. Angles of the thorax prolonged : elytra rece! prenbarey, Seid also marked by slender lines. Length about half an inch. According to Dr. Hannts, the females are more robust and larger than the males, and the brevicornis of Say is identical with this species. The elytra are marked by about ten distinct lines each : the legs are lighter colored than the elytra, and clothed with hairs ; aud the prolonged outer angles of the thorax are exeurved. Exater (Acnriores) onesvs (Say), Color reddish brown : body somewhat dilated and short : seutel rounded and hairy. The elytra are punctured, and clothed in much the same manner as the foregoing. Length less than half an inch. The lines of the elytra are only about seven in number, and the hairs upon the upper side are arranged in lines or stripes. It is found in the spring among the roots of grass, and it is observed by Mr. Hives that its grub resembles the wireworm of Europe. Eater ——. ( Plate v, fig. 7.) This species was found dead ; it is much larger than the appressifrons, and of a light brown color. I believe now that though it may not be a common species, still, as it is faded, it will probably be a matter of doubt to what species it really belongs, and there- fore I omit further allusion to it. FAMILY LAMPYRID. 89 Lampyride. Tue glowworms and fireflies constitute a part of this interesting family of insects. Their bodies are elongated and greatly depressed, and soft : the elongation affects the abdomen, the thorax and head being very short, and the latter concealed in the former. The females are sometimes destitute of wings. Their colors are dull, though a considerable variety exists, and the markings of the thorax are very peculiar, the ornamental colors consisting of red and yellow combined with black. They are said to be voracious, and feeders upon flesh, subsisting upon snails,ete. When alarmed, they fold up their antenne and feet, and remain motionless : if disturbed, they fall into the grass or leaves. They are common on fences and walls during the summer and spring. Some species fly into the windows at night, being attracted by the light of the candle. The family is characterized anatomically by the different authors as having filiform or serrated antenne, with compressed joints ; the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobed ; the parts of the mouth small : mandible small, acute and curved. Gexvs LAMPYRIS (Lry.). ‘Head not rostrated, covered by thorax : females apterous : mandibles entire’ ( West- woop). Lampyris NiGRicANs ( Knoch). : ( Plate xxi, fig. 3.) ‘ Brownish black : thorax with a rufous spot each side within the margin’ ( Say). The margin of the thorax appears wetted, and the thorax is edged with brownish. LAMPYRIS SCINTILLANS. ( Plate xxi, fig. 5.) Disk of the thorax rufous, with an angular brown spot in the centre ; border yellow : elytra brown, bordered with yellow. LAMPYRIS ANGULATA. ( Plate xxi, fig. 4.) Color pale fuscous, the darker indistinctly defined. Thorax marked with an angular and pointed patch of brown on its posterior part, and surrounded with rufous : sides of the brown anterior part furnished with a pair of oval yellowish spots. Elytra brown, bordered with yellow. LAMPYRIS LATICORNIS. ( Plate xxi, fig. 2.) Antenne conspicuous and compressed. Thorax ornamented with an oval central black spot, pointed before, and bordered with rufous ; margin pale yellow : beneath, the colors correspond to those above. Elytra plain dull black, black beneath. Length one-fourth of an inch. { AcricuttuRaL Report—- Vot. v.] 12 LAMPYRIS COmRUSCA. _ (Plate xxi, fig. 1.) Thorax with a black spot, rounded at the sides, and prolonged to the anterior extremity of the thorax, bordered with rufous and yellowish ; margin with a black narrow border. Elytra black or dark brown. LAMPYRIS VERSTCOLOR. ( Plate xxi, fig. 6.) Body long. Thorax lined with black in the centre and posteriorly, and with oval rufous spots on each side ; margin yellow. Elytra dark brown, margined with yellow, and with an acute band behind, running from the anterior and outer angle to the opposite interior angle. Length rather more than one-fourth of an inch. Gexus DICTYOPTERA (Lr.). Lycus (Stph.). ‘ Head short : females winged : mandibles entire’ ( Westwoop). DicTYoPTERA TERMINALIS. ( Plate xxi, fig. 8.) Thorax black in the middle, bordered with reddish yellow : antennw, legs and abdomen black : elytra pale orange, terminated with blue-black, and longitudinally veined ; inosculating transverse veinlets between and uniting them ; wings bordered with pale orange, shaded at their extremity. Length? DicrYorrera RETICULATA. ( Plate xxi, fig. 7.) Thorax with a central black spot, bordered with orange : antennm, legs and abdomen black : elytra orange, with two large blue-black oval spots ; veins six, alternately thick and thin : wings black at their tips, and shaded blackish. Length? Both species are furnished with conspicuous antenne. Telephoride. Teiernorvs ? ——. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 1.) Body soft, elongate, linear : elytra covering the abdomen ; terminal joint of the labial palpi securiform ; eyes prominent. Color of the body, head, and middle of the thorax black or dark brown ; middle of the elytra brown, edges rufous ; labrum and outer margins of the thorax thin and rufous. Length half an inch. Omatisus coccinatus ( Say). Thorax indented : elytra orange, reticulated with longitudinal veins and a transverse network of veinlets : antenna slightly rufous, and bordering upon brown or black. FAMILY CLERID®. 91 Cleride. Antenna subclavate, the three or four last joints being thickened : the head is more or less retractile ; and the anterior parts, head and thorax, appear elongated, while the abdomen is short. The thorax and body are both subrotund ; the last joint but one of the tarsi, bifid. « The family is composed of small but beautiful insects : they live in wood, and some- times in the dried remains of animals, in which respect they seem to resemble the der- mestide. Others frequent beehives, and feed upon the larve of the bee. Genus CLERUS (Georr.). Tricnopes ( Fab.). ‘ Tarsi with the basal joints scarcely visible ; labial palpi terminated by a large hatchet- ‘ shaped joint; terminal joint of the antenne acutely produced within’ ( Westwoop). CLERUS APIARIUS. ( Plate ii, fig. 8.) Color steel-blue, pubescent : elytra vermilion, with three transverse bands of deep violet. Genus THANASIMUS ( Larr.). Antenne gradually clavate : maxillary palpi small ; labial palpi terminated by a hatchet- shaped joint; basal tarsi joint small. THANAsIMUs busts ( Latr.). ( Plate viii, fig. 7.) Color brown and fuscous, pubescent ; madibles and eyes black ; head, thorax and base of the elytra fuseous. Neck surrounded with a collar : thorax emarginate before, deeply grooved transversely behind, and exserted. Elytra fuscous and strongly punctured at base, banded with rufous white and dark brown or black ; thighs fuscous ; tibia and first joints of the tarsi dark brown. One-third of the basal portion of the elytra is pubescent ; the remainder, or banded portion, is clothed with close-pressed short hairs : on the undulating whitish bands, the hair is dirty white. Length one-fourth of an inch. This species of Thanasimus is found upon the pine, both in the living and decayed state of the tree. The larva of one of the English species of CLerus, C. apiarius, is found in beehives, and is highly injurious to the community, as it feeds upon the grubs of the bees. It is an European insect, and is not known in this country ; but as other members of the family may have the same habits, it is important that they should be found out. Ptinidae. - % Sun Semily Secvaaie ds compasecivel, a; nuseine of amall-inasets; whidhiensieatielentiy abundant at times to cause considerable damage ; they are found in the woodwork of old houses ; in furniture and books, dried plants, ship biseuit, wafers, grain, ete. The Genus. Axonom Is one of these, and has acquired the namegf deathwatch, from the noise it makes. Gexus PTINUS. . ‘Antenne long, slender and simple, Inserted close together; eyes prominent; elytra ‘ separated ; body oblong’ ( Westwoop). Prixus run ( Linn.). This is a small oval insect of a reddish brown color, one-eighth of an inch in length, with the head and prothorax small and the feet and antenn# long and slender. The elytra are covered with hairs, and have a longitudinal stria filled with punctures. It is very destructive when numerous, and is common to Europe and America : in Europe, it de-— stroys stored wheat. Dr. Hatveman remarks that he has found it feeding upon the corn- stalks used to line cases of insects in an entomological collection, in the month of Fe- bruary. It seems to be a general feeder. Lymexylonidae. Tux destruction of ship-timber collected in dockyards, which so often happens, is fre- quently effected by the Lymexylon navale, a species of insect belonging to this family, and found in Europe. The cause of the damage was investigated by Lixxeus, at the request of the King of Sweden; and when he discovered it, he reeommended immersing the timber in water during the period when the female insect would be engaged in depositing her eggs. Dr. Hanais describes an American species, or one belonging to the allied genus “Hy ecetus. Cures CAPITATA. Golor black : head red or ferruginous, strongly ridged and transversely grooved, and furnished with two prominent tubercles : thorax with three longitudinal ridges : elytra strongly ridged, with two rows of punctures upon the back, and three between the lateral ridges. : FAMILY BOSTRICHID®. 93 Bostrichide. Tuts family is distinguished by the cylindrical form of the insect, and by the front of the prothorax, which is obliquely truncate. Tn this climate these insects are small, but within the tropics there are some large species. They all infest forest trees, burrowing either beneath the bark or into the wood. Th@power they possess of penetrating hard substances is quite remarkable : seasoned timber is easily cut by them, and the lead of the roofs of houses scarcely presents an obstruction. At Turin, cartridges stored in barrels were eaten through, and the leaden balls gnawed an eighth of an inch in depth. The Bostrichus ca- pucinus, the species on which the genus was first established by Georrnoy, has been found gnawing type metal, which is considerably harder than lead. Their bodies are hard, and generally black or of a dark rusty brown : the thorax is dilated before ; the antenne short, and terminate in three large serrated joints. The larve are wood-eaters also, of a whitish color, wrinkled above, and furnished with six legs. Genus APATE. Bosrricuus (Oliv.). Elytra spinose and retuse posteriorly : antenne with the second joint elongate, cylindric ; terminal joints forming a perfoliated club. a ’ APATE BASILARIS. Color black or dark brown : prothorax rough and punetured ; base of the elytra red, punctured, and the posterior extremity obliquely truncate and furnished with three teeth on each side. Length rather more than one-fourth of an inch. This species is found as far south as Carolina. It perforates the shagbark hickory dia- metrically through the trunk to the very heart, where it undergoes its transformations at the bottom of its burrow ( Harris on injurious insects). In Italy, the branches of the Morus mu/ticaulis are perforated by the pate sexdentate. Many other species commit great havoc in forests, perforating the wood and burrowing beneath the bark, by which the circulation of the sap is cut off. Dr. Harpeman remarks in a manuscript note, that some strips of hickory which he had employed to confine rose plants were destroyed in two years. The hickory is a tree that suffers much from the attacks of boring insects ; and hoop-poles made of hickory saplings are frequently destroyed, or rendered useless in a few months. Barrel hoops, made of this excellent material, are often attacked, so that much inconvenience, if not actual loss, may be the result. The proper remedy seems to be the immersion of the poles in water, or storing them in cellars, during the deposition of the eggs. The latter mode is sometimes adopted, but the former would have the advantage of destroying young grubs already deposited. o4 ORDER COLEOPTERA. From the great and increasing value of the forests in New-York and Pennsylvania, it becomes necessary to direct attention to these destroyers, that proper care may be taken to prevent their increase. Although living trees are subject to attack, these insects have the peculiarity of flocking to recently cut timber. On this account, infected trees should be eut down and the bark subsequently removed and burnt, and the wood cut up and applied as fuel, turned into charcoal, or immersed in water. Some European authors contend that healthy trees are not attacked by these insects; al that when the attack has been com- menced, it is an indication that the tree is in a state of incipient decline. CHAPTER VII. ORDER I. COLEOPTERA ( Continued). HETEROMERA. Tus division comprehends those insects in which the four anterior tarsi are five-jointed, while the posterior pair are only four-jointed. They are mostly vegetable feeders, some preferring leaves, others flowers, and others farinaceous matters. There is great diversity in their color and habitat : some are beautifully ornamented, others dark and gloomy : some prefer the light of day, and are found upon the wing sporting in the beams of the sun ; others inhabit dark and gloomy places, retiring from day, and abiding in obscure and tiple hen bel situations In these respects, however, we find elsewhere similar ar- rangements and diversities. The Herexomera are subdivided by Westwoop into two sections or tribes, the first of which he calls Tracner1a. The head in this tribe is considerably dilated behind the eyes, and then narrowed again, so that the thorax does not equal the broadest part of the head. The body of the insect is also of a soft consistence, and the elytra are flexible, and folded or overlapped on their inner margin. The Canrnanis is an example of this subdivision, as to the character of the elytra and the softness of body and gay color of the insect. The other great tribe or subdivision is the Arracuettra. In this tribe the thorax has the width of the head, the posterior part of which is often concealed by the thorax. The habits of the insects also serve to distinguish them from the first subdivision : they appear in dull colors, rarely fly by day, and seek concealment in darkness. Among the ArRracHELia we find the Genera Buars and Trenesrio. The Tracneia comprise the Notoxide, Pyrochroide, Lagriide, Horiide, Mordellide. Cantharide, Salpingide, (Edemeride, and Melandryide ; in all nine families. The Arracnetia embrace only six families, namely, the Cistelide, Helopide, Tene- brionide, Diaperide, Blapside and Pimeliide. 96 ORDER COLBROPTERA. Pyrochroidae. Bopy narrowed in front, and flattened ; neck distinct ; thorax suborbicular ; antenne rather longer than the head and thorax, pectinated in the males. Dexprorpes canapensts (Lt.). ( Plate xxv, fig. 2.) Eyes very large, nearly meeting above and below, terminating sharply beneath and rounded above : thorax rufous and punctured ; elytra chestnut brown, glossy, beautifully punctured and long, and larger than the abdomen ; antenna distantly pectinated. Gexus PYROCHROA (Fan.), Cantuanis ( Lin.). Antenne rather longer than the head and thorax, pectinated in the males : eyes distant. PYROCHROA FLABELLATA._ ( Plate xxv, fig. 4.) Eyes in the males distant, but large : antennw pectinated : head and thorax rufous : elytra black or dark brown, finely punctured, and extending beyond the abdomen ; thighs banded with rufous at both extremities ; antenna black, rufous at base ; last segment ~ of the abdomen brownish. . Cantharidae. Tue contharides, or blistering flies used in medicine, are represented amongst us by the allied genus Ericavta, having the same property of raising blisters. They are slender soft-bodied inseets, with slender legs, the prothorax narrowed before, and the head large. They are at times abundant upon potato vines, whence they have acquired the name of potato fly, particularly the Epicauta vittota : it attacks the potato, convolvulus, and other plants, from June to September. It may, with the other species, be collected with a muslin bag having the mouth attached to a hoop; thrown into water to prevent escape, and subsequently scalded and dried for the use of the druggist. EpicauTa viTtata. ( Plate v, fig. 14.) Color black ; third joint of the antenn# longest : front of the head marked by two black kidneyform spots : thorax furnished with a small labial tubercle, and marked with three fuscous strips, the two lateral ones obscure ; the middle of the thorax promi- nent. Elytra margined all around with fuscous border, and marked in the middle with a stripe of the same color : thighs fuscous at the articulation ; lower extremities and tibie and tarsi black. Length six-tenths of an inch. a —; — St FAMILY CANTHARID, CISTELIDAZ AND DIAPERID. 97 Genus CANTHARIS (Gerorr.). Lyrra ( Fab.). Body narrow ; wings two ; elytra elongate ; last joint of the maxillary palpi subovate. CANTHARIS CINEREA. Insect elongated, narrow, cinereous, and covered with short close-pressed hairs : antenne dark brown. The whole insect has a hoary appearance. CANTHARIS ATRATA. ( Plate xxv, fig. 6.) Insect jet black : legs, body and thorax shining : elytra rather dull. Sometimes I have found great numbers of this insect devouring the flowers of the china aster, in the months of August and September. Genus MELOE ( Lyryy.). Wings none: elytra short, lapping within ; antennz various. MELOE ANGUSTICOLLIS. Insect steel-blue : head and thorax punctured ; two ovoid spaces on each side of the thorax, smooth. Elytra sculptured : the two last and part of the third ring of the abdomen naked. Cistelidae. Genus CISTELA (Fas.). Curysomera (Linn.). ‘Ovate : thorax semicircular ; mandibles bifid ; maxillary palpi subsecuriform’ ( Wesr- woop). CisTELA BREvis (Say). Brown, widest near the middle : thorax terminated behind and laterally by a sharp angle : elytra punctured and slightly ridged ; legs rather long, and paler than the body. Diaperidae. Genus BOLETOPHAGUS (Fas.). Exepona (Lat.). Obtuse, ovate, convex : thorax crenated ; antenne curved, clubbed and serrated. [ AcricutturaL Rerort— Vot. v.] 13 BoLeroruacus connutus. ( Plate v, fig. 12.) Brown, seabrous : elytra furnished with three rows of tubercles. Male thorax furnished with two curled horns leaning forward, yellow, villose on their under sides ; Jabrum furnished with two pointed upright horns, or pointed tubercles ; thorax of the female furnished with two short notched tubercles ; margin of the thorax dilated, tuberculate and serrate. Helopidae. Tue colors of this family of insects are rather lively : their elytra are free, and the wings are usually simple. The larve are found in wood or under the bark of trees ; some, in the perfect state, frequent umbelliferous flowers. Prrno americanus ( Knoch). ( Plate xxv, fig. 9.) Brown, darker above, and slightly brassy or submetallic ; head and thorax darker than the elytra. Tenebrionidae, Blapsidae, and Pimeliidae. ANATOMICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Tarsi and tarsal claws entire ; sides of the head parallel ; antenne rather short, moniliform, and inserted beneath the widened margins of the head ; mandibles short, triangular, tips bifid; internal lobe of the maxilla often armed with a corneous tooth ; eyes oblong, and only slightly elevated. Geyexat uantts. These families possess many similar habits : they avoid the light, and live in damp places in cellars, basements, stables, ete., or upon the ground and under stones in sandy places. The term ¢enebrio is derived from the latin, signifying darkness ( Westwoop). The colors are all dark brown or black. In the Tenesnionips, the body is oblong ovate and depressed, or supplied with short legs ; elytra free ; thorax square, and the head as broad behind as the base of the elytra : the palpi are enlarged at the tip ; mentum narrowed at the base. In the Buarsina : Elytra soldered together ; wings obsolete ; legs of moderate length, hence the body is less depressed than in the former family ; palpi three-jointed ; man- dibles bifid ; internal lobe of the maxilla armed with a claw. In the Puterups, the palpi filiform, and terminal joint rather dilated than hatehet- shaped as in the two preceding families ; maxilla concealed in a large mentum, which is as wide behind as before. FAMILY TENEBRIONIDZ. 99 Genus TENEBRIO. Body narrow elongate ; thorax quadrate ; antenne filiform and eleven-jointed, basal joint ovate, second small; palpi unequal ; legs slender ; anterior tibiae curved, minutely spurred at the apex ; tarsi with entire joints heteromerous. The Teneerro resides in mills, granaries, meal-tubs, ete., upon the contents of which it subsists. TENEBRIO MOLITOR. ( Plate xxxi, fig. 10.) Color black or brown : thorax darker than the elytra; beneath dark fuscous. Head thick- ly punctured ; thorax impressed on each side of the median line ; elytra obscurely streaked and punctured ; legs shining reddish. Common in bakehouses, meal-tubs, ete. TENEBRIO OBSCURUS. Color black, or dark brown and dull ; beneath brown. TENEBRIO CURYIPES. Color black or very dark brown ; lighter beneath. Tibia much curved. The mealworm is a hard smooth shining cylindrical larva about an inch long, which lives upon flour, meal or bran, and is frequently very destructive to biscuits on shipboard. It is said to pass two years in the larva state, when it appears as the Tenebrio molitor found in Europe and America, and probably exported to other countries. In Europe, the larve are raised in quantities to feed nightingales and other cage-birds. It is usually abundant in grain-mills and granaries. Upis pennsytvanica ( Dj.). ( Plate xxv, fig. 8.) Dark brown. Elytra finely punctured in nine equal lines. CHAPTER VIII. ORDER I. COLEOPTERA (Continued ). PSEUDOTETRAMERA. Bruchide. Genus BRUCHUS ( Lixy.). Antenne filiform, slightly and gradually thickened at the tips : elytra oblong quadrate. Bavcuvus pisi. ( Plate ii, fig. 3.) Insect small and hairy, ovoid, gray : head black ; thorax gray or mottled, with a central posterior whitish spot ; elytra gray or mottled: with smal] inconspicuous dots or spots posteriorly ; posterior abdomen with two black oval spots, and two just beneath the ends of the wings ; scales black. The female peabug deposits its eggs in the tender peapod, when the pea is soft and im- mature ; and when the larva is hatched, it feeds upon the matter with which it is sur- stianded, until it has attained its full growth, when it bores a gallery to the surface » merely leaving the surface skin untouched, ready to be pushed off by the head of the perfect insect when ready to make its exit in April. An infinity of the young grubs are destroyed in preparing green peas for the table ; but whether the epicure finds any difference in the taste of pure and infected vegetables, we are not informed. Seed peas more than a year old do not retain the living insects, and should therefore be preferred in planting new districts : if these cannot be had, the seed may be immersed in sealding water for a short time ; a process which does not appear to destroy the ger- minating power of leguminous vegetables, if carefully performed. This is proved by the fact that seeds of the locust tree will grow in a single season, if boiling water be poured over them and allowed to stand until it has become cold. GENUS CALANDRA. 101 a Genus CALANDRA. ‘Antenne geniculated and nine-jointed, inserted near the base of the rostrum : the elub is biarticulate ; rostrum elongate, rounded, slightly deflexed and bent ; thorax elon- gate, narrowed in front, depressed, the base and apex truncate ; elytra shorter than the abdomen ; body subdepressed ; legs rather short; tibia armed with an acute spur ; tarsi reflexed, the penultimate joint slightly bilobed’ (Srrpnens). CALANDRA GRANARIA ( Clairy.). ( Plate ii, fig. 1.) Color pale ferruginous : head finely punctate ; thorax strongly punctate; elytra deeply striate and punctate ; legs ferruginous. This insect is an European species, but has been introduced here in samples of wheat received from France. Many bottles of sample wheat were entirely destroyed, although perfectly closed so that nothing could get in from without. It is called the Corn weevil. I suppose this introduction of this insect, which was accompanied with another, the Silvanus surinamensis, is only a single instance of its occurrence in this way. When it was observed that the specimen grain was destroyed by these imported insects, Mr. J. E. Gayit volunteered to describe and illustrate the insects for publication in the Transactions of the Agricultural Society of this State. I am permitted to republish this valuable account, furnished by the gentleman referred to ; as too much publicity cannot be given to a matter so interesting to the wheat-growers of this country. Mr. Gayit, in his communication to the Secretary of the Society, states, that ‘in the specimens of wheat furnished me, I find two beetles : one the true corn weevil of Europe, Calandra granaria (Ciairvite) ; the other, Silvanus surinamensis, the weevil most com- monly found infesting the granaries of this State. ‘ The former of these received the name of Curculio granarius from Linnzxvus, but is now called Calandra granaria. It is somewhat depressed, and varies in color from a deep pitch to a chesnut tint. The head is semi-globose, produced anteriorly into a longish smooth cylindrical snout, which is shortest and stoutest in the males : it is slightly curved, and sparingly punctured with two lines extending almost from the base of the head to the apex, forming two deep channels before the eyes, where the rostrum is dilated. Eyes black, vertical, ovate, finely granulated and depressed. The antenne are nine-jointed : the basal joint being long, stout and clavate, it forms an angle with the remainder; the terminal ones forming an oyal, conical, little shining club, pubescent at the tip. Thorax twice as broad as the head, oval, a little truneated : the surface is coarsely punctured with oval points. Seutellum minute and oval. Wing-covers exactly equal to the thorax and head, being ovate-truncate, and not covering the apex of the abdomen : there are nine deep punctured channels down each, producing short pale bristles ; and the two raised furrows on each side of the suture have a line of long punctures. The six legs are punctured, 102 ORDER COLEOPTERA. strong and stout, especially the anterior and posterior pairs. The thighs are stout : they all have a hook or claw at their extremities, The tarsi are reflexed and four-jointed, spongy beneath, basal joint subelavate, second ovate, third broader and slightly bilobed, fourth clavate and furnished with two minute claws. Length nearly two lines. | ‘This insect seems early to have attracted the attention of naturalists. Leowxxnorx closely observed its economy, and his observations were published as far back as 1687 ; but to Ocivien, however, are we indebted for the most accurate and full aceount of its habits published in the Encyclopédie Méthodique. All subsequent writers appear to have based their deseriptions on his observations. No insect is more formidable to man than this little pest, since it attacks the principal basis of his food ; and they are sometimes so nu- merous in a heap of grain, that they destroy it altogether, leaving nothing but the chaff. After the sexes have paired, the female makes a hole in the grain of wheat with her ro- strum, and deposits an egg. These holes are not perpendiculer to the surface of the grains, but oblique, or even parallel, and are stopped with a species of gluten of the same color as the corn, Orrvier says there is but one to each grain : I, however, have repeatedly found two, one in each lobe, and these larvie as plump and well conditioned as those who had the good fortune of a kernel] to themselves. From the egg is hatched in due time a small footless grub (fig. 6), which, during its growth, eats out the entire contents of the - grain, and, when lodged in the grain, is perfeetly sheltered from all injuries from the air, because its excrements serve to close the aperture ; so there is no use in stirring the grain, as nothing can incommode it. It is very white; has the form of an elongated soft worm, and the body is composed of nine prominent rounded rings : it is nearly a line in length, with a yellow rounded head provided with organs (fig. ¢) proper for gnawing the grain. When the larva has eaten all the flour, and is arrived at its full growth, it remains in the envelope of the grain, where it is metamorphosed into a nymph (fig. a), of a clear white, and transparent : the proboscis and antenne can readily be distinguished ; but it gives no sign of life, except when disturbed, and then but a slight movement of the abdomen. Eight or ten days after, the perfect insect eats its way out. In general, that which serves as nutriment to insects in their larva state is unsuited to the perfect form. To this the calandra is an exception ; for scarcely has it issued from its nymph state, than it proceeds to pierce the envelope of the grain, to establish itself anew therein. I have frequently watched the perfect insect feeding upon the farina of the grain, having pierced the skin and buried the proboscis to the base. It is often found, however, lodged in the interior of the grain (fig. e); and its black color does not announce its recent issuing from its state of nymph, since it is of a straw color at the time when it has just left its sheath : neverthe- less we must doubtless believe that it occasibns much less injury in this state, than in that of the larva. ‘The Calandra has no sooner issued from its envelope of nymph, than, like the majority of inseets, it is in a state of pairing for the reproduction of its species, and this act ever GENUS CALANDRA. 103 bears strict relation to a certain degree of heat : if it be under 50° Fahr., it is insufficient to afford them force or vigor to desire copulation : if the weather be cold, they remain in a lethargic state, and are incapable of injury ; if warm, they pair very frequently. The deposition of eggs commences sooner or later, according to the season or climate : the female deposits them in all months, when the temperature is up to a suitable degree, ceasing to lay when the mornings grow cold. ‘From the moment of pairing to the appearing of the perfect calandra, there is an in- terval of forty or forty-five days. By this we may see that a year must produce many generations, which multiply still more in very hot climates. According to a table for the calculation of their increase, it results that the sum total of each generation added to- gether is 6045, proceeding from a single pair during five months, from the end of April until the middle of September, while the mercury continues above 65° Fahr. We are therefore no longer astonished if enormous heaps of grain are destroyed by these insects. The injured kernels may be known by a very simple process : if several handfuls of the grain be thrown into water, those will swim upon the surface which have been robbed of their farinaceous substance by the destroyer. ‘Tt is not upon the surface of corn heaps, but some inches beneath, that we find these insects ; and there, unless dislodged by shaking with a shovel or sieve, they will remain so long as the weather continues warm, living, pairing, and depositing their eggs. When the mornings begin to freshen, all, both young and old, retire to clefts of walls and the flaws of wood and floors. They are sometimes found behind tapestry, chimnies, in fine every place affording a warm retreat. ‘Tt has been supposed seriously that these insects remain lethargic during the whole winter, and return in spring to their abandoned grain-heaps, recommencing the deposition of their eggs ; the cold incapacitating them for the exercise of the functions necessary for the multiplication and preservation of their species. Based upon the knowledge of this fact, is the substitution of cold as a remedy. It has therefore been proposed to have a ventilator, the effect of which would be to keep in a granary a degree of air sufficiently cold to reduce these insects to the above lethargic state. A general and constant rule among insects is, that those which have paired perish shortly after, and do not pass the winter except in the egg or larva state. It is doubtless rare that even those which have not been exhausted by fulfilling the intentions of nature, can survive the winter rigors. Mr. Gay- Lorp, however, in his prize essay published in the Society’s Transactions for the year 1843, says, of some specimens of wheat that he had received from the Patent Office, in which he found weevils, that “selecting some pure flint wheat kernels, all perfectly sound, we enclosed a dozen of these weevils with the wheat in a large phial to prevent their escape. The phial was wrapped in paper, and placed where it would not be disturbed except for examination. Opening it occasionally for more than a year and a half, I found my weevils, with the exception of one or two, all living, and appearing to enjoy themselves much on 104 ORDER COLEOPTERA. the wheat, a large portion of the kernels of which they had hollowed out.” This would imply that they survive two seasons at least,and those ] have in my possession sustain this assumption. ‘Many and various modes of exterminating this foe to man have been tried. We first hear of fumigations with herbs of strong and disagreeable odor ; but this seems useless, as it does not incommode the insect, while the grain receives a fetid and disgusting scent. The fumes of sulphur are pronounced equally inefficient, All these fumigations are still less adapted to the destruction of the larvae, as the smoke cannot penetrate among the grain, and their perfectly closed envelope seeures them from all such annoyance. Ouivien recommends the following, as one of the most effectual and least expensive modes of destroying them. At the return of spring, when the calandre are observed to spread in the heaps of winter-stored grain, it will be necessary to form small heaps of five and six measures, and place them at a suitable distance from the large heap : this stir with a shovel. The insects, who are singularly fond of tranquility, seek to eseape, and, seeing another heap of grain alongside, they take refuge therein. When all are thus collected, boiling water is brought and poured over them, stirring it from time to time with the shovel to secure its penetration through the grain while hot. All these insects then die, being burned or suffocated at the moment. The grain is then spread for the purpose of drying, and afterwards sifted to separate the dead insects. ‘It is necessary to perform this operation early in the spring before the deposition of eggs, the generation existing being only dangerous in giving birth to its successors. This method may be performed on a large seale as well as a small one, without oceasioning any considerable expense. ‘ Other experiments have proved that a sudden heat of 75° Fahr. is sufficient to destroy these insects, without burning them ; and a simple efficacious method is mentioned in the Tennessee Agriculturist, quoted by Mr. Gaytorp in his essay. “If a hogshead, with one head removed, be inverted over a fire until thoroughly heated, and then immediately filled with wheat and reheaded, all weevils in the grain will be killed, and the grain may be kept in safety till wanted for use.” ‘A gentleman in Madeira has established a heated room, with hot water pipes, in which he receives as many as eight hundred bags of grain at a time : these become heated through at about 135° Fahr.; and the wheat, when resifted, is perfectly cleaned, making quite as good bread as before, the seed also losing nothing of its vitality by this process.* ‘The French “ lay upon the grain, fleeces of wool which have not been scoured : the oily matter attracts the insects among the wool, when they soon die, from what cause is not exactly known.”’+ * Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, Vol. 1. t London Lit. Gazette, July 1, 1826. GENUS CALANDRA. 105 ‘One essential point in all storehouses for grain is, undoubtedly, frequent whitewashing and thorough ventilation, as there appears to be much testimony corroborative of this great preventive to the ravages of this minute destroyer. ‘A correspondent of the London Mark-lane Express, in speaking of the corn weevil says : “Some years ago, we found a house overrun with weevils : after numberless at- tempts to destroy them, we were led to observe that they were almost entirely on the south wall (our rainy side), and that they appeared to breed in incredible numbers in an uh- usually damp spot or corner. Taking the hint, we cased the wall on the outside with slate, and made the house in every respect perfectly dry, and in a short time the weevils died off and disappeared. Since adopting this precaution, we have not the least trouble, and have only been reminded that such an insect exists when an accidental spot of damp has appeared to generate them again. We think ourselves, therefore, entitled to say, that these insects require moisture ; and that if the grain and granary, as both ought always to be, are dry and healthy, weevils will not long remain. This plan bears the merit of costing less than nothing, because the injury that wheat sustains directly from damp is more than equivalent to the expense of keeping premises dry, leaving its indirect influence in the generation of weevils out of the question.” ’ SILVANUS SURINAMENSIS. “(Plate ii, fig. 3.) The following is Mr. Gavir’s account of this insect : ‘The insect accompanying the Calandra, and usually found in granaries in this country, is named Silvanus surinamensis, the corn silvanus. This insect was named by Lixyzus, being sent to him from Surinam by one of his pupils. Fapricivs, from its infesting stores and warehouses, called it Anobium frumentarium, and subsequently Dermestes sexdentatum, from the spines on the side of the thorax. Linnaus’s name, however, has the right of priority. “8. surinamensis is only one line and a quarter long, and very narrow : it is flat, of a rusty brown color, thickly and coarsely punctured, and sparingly clothed with short de- pressed yellow hairs. The head is large and subtrigonate : the nose appears truncated, but it is semicireular in front, and conceals the mouth, which is composed of an upper and under lip, and two little horny jaws, maxille and palpi. The antenne stout, straight and pubescent, nearly as long as the head and thorax, and eleven-jointed ; the basal joint stoutish, the terminal ones forming an elongated club (fig. /). The eyes are black, smal], and coarsely granulated. The thorax is perfectly oval, and a little wider than the head at the middle. There are three ridges down the back, forming two broad channels, and on each margin are six teeth. Seutellum minute ; the wing-covers long, elliptical, and broader than the thorax, with four slightly elevated lines down each : between them are double rows of punctures, and a series of little shining yellow bristles : beneath are two ample [ AcricutturaL Report — Vot. v.] 14 wings. Legs short ; thighs stout ; shanks clavate ; tarsi five-jointed, three first joints short, fourth exceedingly minute, fifth clavate and terminated by two small claws. ‘The larva (fig. g) is a little depressed yellowish white worm : it is composed of 8 tolerably large head, with two pointed jaws and two little horns, and of twelve transverse segments ; the tail is somewhat conical, and it has six conical articulated legs. ‘The pupa (fig. A) is of the same color; the head is bent down; the thorax is sub- orbicular, with three ridges ; the elytra wrapped over the sides, and striated : abdomen with distinct segments. ‘Mr. Cvarts, from whom the above description is derived, says that “ this insect appears to be naturalized in England and Scotland, lying under the bark of trees*.” I have found it in sugar, and in boxes containing dried figs in great numbers. It appears to be spread all over the habitable globe, probably carried in vessels with grain and dried fruits. ‘This is the insect, as I am informed by that excellent entomologist, Dr. Frren, that infested the mill of Mr. Ricu of Shoreham (Vermont), mentioned in the Cultivator of December 1846, on which Mr. R. tried various experiments of fumigation, but found nothing so satisfactory as hot water, whitewashing, and general cleanliness. A correspon- dent of the same journal, in noticing Mr. Ricn’s experiments, speaks of 2 remedy he never found to fail : placing sassafras root among the grain infested by them. He is evidently dealing with the rice weevil, Calandra oryz@ (Liyxaws), an insect exceedingly like the grain weevil in habits and appearances.’ Attelabide. Brenthides, Genes BRENTHUS ( Fan.). Thorax ovoid ; body rounded or subcylindrical ; antenne inserted at the base of the snout, just before the eyes. In the males the mandibles are strong and prominent : the fe- male is provided with a gently curved snout, terminated with a much smaller pair. Thorax and head as Jong as the body or abdominal portion. Brentnvs septentrionts ( Hb.). ( Plate ii, fig. 4.) Males with distinct mandibles : females provided with an elongated snout. Color brown, polished. Head small; eyes prominent ; elytra ridged and punctured in lines, and marked with yellowish patches of lighter brown. Length seven-tenths of an inch. The whole insect is highly polished. A few years ago, I found great numbers of them apon a recently felled black oak in Canandaigua. ** I have since met with them in the same situation.’ FAMILIES ATTELABID# AND CURCULIONIDA. 107 Attelabides. Gexus ATTELABUS ( Liy.). Broad : elytra subquadrate ; antenne eleven-jointed ; head not narrowed behind the eyes. ATTELABUS PUBESCENS ( Say). Yellowish brown, pubescent : body short. ArreLagus simivis ( Kirby). Head and legs steel-blue : body cylindrical ; thorax conical, rufous ; elytra rufous, pune- tured. ATTELABUS ANILIs. Small : head, thorax, abdomen, and extremity of the elytra steel-blue ; elytra with rufous upon the shoulders. Curculionide. Phyllobides. Genus PHYLLOBIUS (Scnéy.). Cuncutto (Lin.). Oblong-ovate, squamose : tibia rounded ; rostrum short; two and three joints of the antenne elongate. PuyLiopius T&N1ATUs ( Say). Gray or hoary, acute behind, widest near the extremity : elytra punctured, with four darker lines, and darker upon the top of the thorax. Gexus HYLOBIUS (Ger.), Curcuxto ( Lin.). Oblong-ovate, winged : rostrum much longer than the head ; second antennal joint elon- gate. Hyronivs. pares ( Hb.). ( Plate ii, fig. 6.) Brown, covered with close-pressed hairs ; hairs gray, in imperfect oblique bands across the elytra ; punctures of the elytra parallel ; antenne angulated ; rostrum furnished with an antennal groove. Gexvus PISSODES ( Gram.). Antenne situated a little in advance of the middle of the rostrum. Pissopks staont. Brown, with two hoary patches on the posterior extremity of the elytra and upon the middle of the thighs ; somewhat hoary beneath. The Ruyxcornona, as they are termed, constitute a very extensive group of coleopterous insects ; some of which, as already seen, have acquired the popular name of weevi/. Many species are destructive to grain and the seeds of leguminous plants. The larva of the large Sphenophorus palmarum of the tropics lives in the trunk of palm trees ; and the palmetto (Chamerops palmetto) of our Southern States is inhabited by am allied species, the Spheno- zimmermanni of Scueyuenn, which is the largest member of the family known to inhabit the United States. Hylobius pales is a common member of a genus which destroys pine trees, by burrowing beneath and loosening the bark. In April and May, it may be seen in considerable num- bers upon wooden fences : it is brown, marked irregularly with small whitish spots. Towards the south, this species and Hylobius picivorus, which is larger and more robust, destroy pine forests entirely, leaving the dead standing or fallen trees as monuments of the mischief which a small insect can commit when sufficiently multiplied. The female of Pissodes nemorensis of German, according to Dr. Hannis, pierces the leading shoot of the white pine for the purpose of depositing its eggs ; and although a pine tree may recover by sending up a lateral branch in the vertical direction, it will require three or four years to pass through this process, and the growth in consequence be retarded. This insect is named Pissodes strobi by Dr. Harris, on the strength of a name given to it by a Mr. Peck in an agricultural journal ; which of course can have no weight, because such publications are unknown or inaccessible to naturalists who are not farmers, and seldom circulate beyond the boundaries of the district in which they are printed. It is too much to expect an entomologist in London, Calcutta, Berlin, Paris, or the city of New- York, to purchase an extensive series of expensive volumes to enable him to find descrip- tions of half a dozen insects said to be contained in them, and which should have been made known through some other channel. Genus BALANINUS (Geam.). Cuncuso ( Lin.). ‘Rostrum nearly as long as the body, which is subtriangular : anterior tibie minutely ‘hooked ; antenne inserted behind the rostrum’ ( Stermens). FAMILY CURCULIONIDE. ’ 109 Bavanrinus rectus (Say). ( Plate ii, fig. 5.) Color brown, mottled with lighter patches upon the thorax and elytra. Snout longer somewhat than the body, and curved at the extremity, slender, elbowed : antenne inserted below the middle, very slender. Rather less than } inch in length. This nut weevil inhabits the chinquapin nut, and renders useless almost the whole crop : the nuts, after being kept a week, are always wormy. It may be the nascicus of Say, but seems to be smaller. Ruyncuanus (Conorracnetus) NENupHAR. Plum Weevil. ( Plate ii, fig. 7.) Color brown, usually dark and somewhat variegated, and variable in individuals, rough and warty : thorax uneven; elytra interceptedly ridged, arranged transversely in three rows, the most prominent in the middle ; abdomen thick, deep but short ; thighs toothed. It appears from the numerous accounts that have been published, that the mature insect may appear as early as the last of March, and continue until the first of August ; remain- ing, therefore, for a longer period than most of the injurious beetles. The habits of this species are peculiar and interesting. It deposits its ova in most fruits, as the plum, cherry, apple, quince, and even in the fruit of the hickory. It is also sus- pected of inserting its eggs into the tender limbs of plum and cherry trees : it is not known, however, whether those black exerescences are caused in this way, although it is not improbable. I have found some three or four different grubs in these excrescences, some of which belonged to a dipterous insect. The plum weevil inserts in each fruit a single egg, having in the first place bitten a spot upon its surface ; and although there may be scores of the insect upon the tree, it is very rare to find more than one wound upon a plum or cherry. The grub produced from the egg is small, and destitute of feet; and when mature, it falls to the ground and imme- diately buries itself in the soil : the next spring it appears in the perfect form at the usual time, when the different kinds of stone fruit are setting. Among the remedies which have been proposed for diminishing the numbers of the plum weevil, there is none so promising as the practice of shaking them from the tree early in the morning and late in the evening, collecting them upon sheets, and committing them to the fire : the fallen fruit should also be subjected to the same treatment. When the tree is suddenly jarred, the insect folds up its legs, falls to the ground, and simulates death. It is easily captured, especially in the morning and evening, when it is stiff, and indisposed to take flight or attempt to escape. Strong-scented odors seem also to be disagreeable to this insect, as it is rarely found upon trees situated near the hogpen. For a full history of this insect and the remedies proposed against 1t, see Harnis’s Massachusetts Report on injurious insects, pp. 65 - 70. 110 ’ ORDER COLEOPTERA. Gesus ITHYCERUS ( Schone). : ble Irnycerus sovesonacensis (Schanherr). { Plate xxxili, fig. 1.) Conceitio xovenonacensts (Forster) ; Rayxcarrks corcetionmpes (Herbst) ; Pacayauyxencs scnaxnnan (Kirby). According to Krapy, this species belongs to the Family Pacnynuyscmpm + its eharae- ters, as given by this distinguished entomologist, are : ‘Labrum subemarginate; mandibles armed with two teeth at the apex ; Jabium nearly square ; palpi conical ; antennse short, inserted into a roundish lateral cavity near the apex of the rostrum ; joints eleven, scape short, ete. Body oblong pear-shaped. Rostrum nearly as wide as the head, subeylindrical, a little wider at the tip, ridged between the eyes and antenna ; eyes round, prominent; prothorax subeylindrical, rather narrowest anteriorly ; antepectus not emarginate, nor lobed. Coleoptera oblong, depressed at the apex : thighs clubbed, unarmed ; tibie unarmed ; penultimate joint of the tarsi bipartite. Its antenna are straight, or only curved, not elbowed. ‘Color gray, covered with a whitish pile; ground black : knob of the antenne brown. Rostrum rather thick, widened anteriorly, having three ridges between the eyes and termination : two divergent, from an impressed angular line between the eyes ; and the other proceeding directly from that line upon its middle, and which terminates anteriorly in @ short fork, or near the emargination of the labrum, though it is sepa- rated from this fork by a slight interception, which is just beyond two hyphen-like lines by its sides. Anterior part of the rostrum naked, and impressed with ccalescent dots. Eyes brown. Thorax subeylindrical, marked with three rather obscure whitish longitudinal bands : punctures coarse and coalescent. Elytra have nine rows of punctures, and at the base a part of a tenth row. The alternate spaces between the dotted lines have small black quadrate spots : on the sutural space, or ridge, they are smaller and more obscure than upon the others. These quadrate black spots are placed upon the four whitish longitudinal stripes, which are quite obscure. Beneath gray : legs gray. Length of the female, five-cighths of an inch; of the male, half an inch.’ , This Corecorro has the habit of many of the species of this family. It devours the tender leaves and blossoms of fruit trees, and has been known to do great injury to the apple and pear. It sometimes attacks the base of a young shoot, and eats it to the pith : at other times, it feeds upon the leaves of the cherry and plum. Its strong notched mandible fits it admirably for work of this kind. The only way to rid a tree infested with this insect, is to shake it suddenly in the morning or evening while the insects are stiff and cold, and collect them upon sheets sprend beneath : the insects, and the fruit that fall, should be put into boiling water. FAMILY CURCULIONIDA. lil This species has a wide range : it is found in Canada, Northern New-York, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. The following remarks of Prof. Havpeman are highly appropriate in this place : ‘Among rhyncophorous coleoptera, the Genus BaLasinus is remarkable for having a very long slender snout, frequently exceeding the body in length, and bearing a pair of antenne as slender as a hair. Chesnuts are frequently found infested with a fleshy grub, which feeds upon the interior, and fills the cavity with its castings in the shape of dust. This is the larva of Balaninus nascicus (Say). It is densely clothed with short hair mottled with ferruginous. An allied but smaller species is found in the larva state in the nut of the Castanea pumila, or chinquapin. These larve are very difficult to raise to the perfect state when the attempt is made, and it is probable that many perish from various con- tingencies. ‘Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herrst), subsequently named Rhynchanus argula by Fasnicivs, is very destructive to the fruit of the plum, which the Jarve inhabit, and cause to fal] prematurely. This damage is so great in some sections, that not a single plum can be raised to maturity. When the fruit falls, the grubs penetrate into the ground ; so that to check their increase, it is advisable to collect and destroy these (as by boiling and feeding them to hogs), including such upon the trees as present a dwarfed, imperfeet, or gummy appearance. Paving the ground around the trees is said to answer an excellent purpose, and it is well known that plum trees flourish well when planted in pavements. This is a small rough insect of a brown color, irregularly marked with white, black and yellow ; and the snout is held upon or near the breast. It is said by Dr. Harris to have been raised from the black warty excrescences found upon the smaller branches of plum and cherry trees. The Rev. D. Ziecier of York (Pennsylvania) has shown me specimens of the butter- fly which destroys the peach-tree (Egeria evitiosa), raised from these exerescences, which differ from those taken from about the root of the tree in being considerably smaller : the two forms have not, however, been rigidly compared. ‘The Genus Siropnitus includes a number of small insects called weevil, which are destructive to stored grain, as wheat, rice and corn ; and under circumstances favorable to their increase, great quantities are destroyed or depreciated in value. The use of salt, and kiln-drying, have been recommended as preventatives. The latter process may be per- formed in an economical manner by erecting a stove with a vertical pipe fifteen or twenty feet in height : around this pipe, and about three inches from it on every side, a second one of wood is to be placed ; and whilst the heat from the fire passes through the inner one, the grain is to be passed through the cavity between the pipes, and at such a rate as to prevent it from being injured by too high a temperature. The moisture will be more effectually driven off if the outer pipe is made with open joints, because otherwise it must rise through the whole column before it can escape, and much of it will condense and be carried down the pipe again. The corn weevil is named Sitophilus oryze from having been _ first discovered in rice, a vegetable which it seems to have accompanied to distant portions of the globe. Infested grain may be detected by its loss of weight, which renders it easy to separate and boil or grind as feed upon the farm. Mills and barns sometimes swarm with these insects ; and in this case multitudes may be collected and destroyed by sweeping them from the posts, walls and floors. * Phyllobius teniatus may be taken as an example of a leaf-inhabiting ae eee insect. Scuaznirenn, the great authority upon these insects, removes it into a new genus of which it is the only representative. It is found upon the leaves of the Jnona triloba, or papaw, and is perfectly harmless.’ Scolytide. Tue Scoryrips® are small obscure insects, inhabiting wood : they have a short rostrum ; the head is globular, and is concealed in the thorax; the body is oblong or eylindrie : their colors are dull. Among these destructive wood-eaters is the Gexus HYLURGUS ( Lart.). Body cylindrical, obtuse before and behind : head concealed in the thorax ; antenn= terminated in a clubform mass, consisting of three or four joints : the tibie: are armed with a tooth. Hytvrevs tereprans (Oliv.). Pubescent : head rounded, and sunk in the thorax ; antenn@ short. Gexvs TOMICUS ( Lat.). Bostaicuvs ( Erichs.). Funiculus five-jointed ; club four-jointed, tunicate ; labium triangular. Of this genus, several species have been described by Mr. Say and Dr. Hannis. They are small brownish beetles, with the elytra toothed at their apices, appearing as if a piece was bitten out. Tomicus EXEsus. Color dark chestnut brown, and somewhat hairy : thorax ovate, rough before ; elytra strongly punctured in rows; apices excavated, the edges toothed on the outer side. Length between one-fourth and one-fifth of an inch. This small and obscure insect is found under the bark of the pitch pine tree, where it exeavates numerous zigzag and parallel roads. It greatly injures forests in this way ; cut- ting off the circulation of the sap, which ultimately causes the bark to become loosened, when the tree dies. FAMILY SCOLYTID. 113 Tomicus Pint. This species differs from the former in having only three or four teeth at the extremity of the elytra, and in being a smaller insect. Its habits are much the same as those of the exesus, in living beneath the bark of the white and pitch pine. The grubs of both species accomplish more injury to forests than the perfect insect. I have taken the last species the first of September. Autumn, or late in the summer, is the period when the perfect insect goes abroad. Miss Morais describes the 7. /iminaris in the Horticulturist, Vol. iv, p. 502. This dis- tinguished entomologist suggests that this insect may be some way or other connected with the yellows in the peach tree, as it is found under the bark. Its color is brown : thorax punctured, and the elytra both punctured and furrowed, and beset with short hairs. Length one-eighth to one-tenth of an inch. Scotytus (Tomicus) pyri (Peck). Pear-blight Beetle ( Harris). ‘Color brown : antenne and legs light ferruginous; elytra punctured in rows, very ‘sloping behind ; tibia flattened at the tarsal end, toothed, and terminated with a ‘small hook’ ( Harris). This insect has been highly injurious to the pear tree in New-England, and especially in the eastern part of Massachusetts. It was first described by Prof. Peck. The larva first eats its way inward into the wood, making its entrance just at the root of a bud : it reaches the pith, and, by its irritation, appears somehow to poison that portion of the limb above the bud where it first entered. We say poisoned ; because there seems to be something more sudden and effectual in causing death, than a slight interruption in the circulation : the limb or twig looks as if it had perished from gangrene. The remedy proposed is to cut the limb and burn it, destroying the insect before it is matured. A careful examination of the pear in June, in order to detect the first appearance of the approach of the insect, is one of the first steps to be taken. { AcricutturaL Rerortr— Vot. v.] 15 CHAPTER IX. ORDER I. COLEOPTERA ( Continued). LONGICORNES. Tue Loxerconyes of Larnente (Evcerata of Westwoop) deserve a special notice, in consequence of their habits, and the singular prolongation of their antenne, which is one of the most obvious characters of the group. The antenn# are filiform or setaceous, and frequently considerably longer than the whole body. The eyes are peculiar, in consequence of the position of the antenn#, which often appear to have been implanted within them : the eye is therefore said to be emarginate, though not strictly so; and it has a reniform shape, when considered independently of the base of the antenna. The body is elongated and cylindrical. The elytra are broader than the thorax, which they more perfectly encase by their sudden flexure at the shoulder, than is common in other groups. The head is short, and driven into the thorax up or nearly to the eyes : their jaws are powerful. The legs are long, and frequently the longest in front. The thorax is cylindrical, and in some species the sides are armed with a short pointed tubercle. The three basal joints of the tarsi are cushioned beneath : the fifth is long and slender ; the fourth, small. The insects of this group come out from various kinds of wood in their perfect state, having inhabited it from the first, or from the time of the deposition of the egg : they are therefore usually found in the vicinity of wood and dock yards, or where timber is stored. It may well be inferred from these facts that the larva is injurious to the tree it occupies ; and the more so, as it is known to remain in this state for many years, The larve are provided with six scaly articulated legs; but they are of little use as organs for locomotion, by reason of their smal] size : their movements are rather effected by means of the warts or fleshy tubercles situated along the sides of their bodies. Their bodies are soft, and of a dirty white color. The head is only moderate in size, flat and wide. In consequence of the long time the larve are resident in various kinds of wood, there is, through commercial intercourse, a tendency to distribute in all countries the beetles of this large group. A piece of wood from South America is brought by a ship and thrown out upon some island in the West Indies, or is transported to one of our southern ports, Savannah, Charleston, or even New-York : the insects contained in the wood are liberated FAMILY PRIONID. 115 in a new and distant land ; and in this way, this or any other country may become stocked with new species of insects. In the long run, and with the ever extending intercouse be- tween the different nations of the earth, it is no visionary imagination that the time will come when these beetles will be found in every country where the climate is not decidedly unfavorable to their propagation and existence. This group of beetles is divided into three families : 1, the Prionipm, embracing the largest of the group, and provided with very prominent jaws and very long bodies ; 2, the Ceramsycip®, containing beetles of moderate dimensions, ornamented with a variety of colors ; and, 3, the Leprurip2, containing insects of a yet smaller size, with bodies dilated before and narrowed behind, and with antenne of a moderate length. Prionide. Prionus PENNSYLVANICUs ( Fab.). ( Plate xxxiv, fig. 10.) CERAMBIX UNICOLOR (Drury) ; C. BRUNNEUS (Forster) ; C cyLinpricus (Linn.). Insect chestnut brown; head dark chestnut brown. Antenne stout, and two-thirds the length of the insect : elytra lighter than the head, extending beyond the abdomen, and nearly three times as long as the thorax and head together ; sides parallel ; ab- domen, thighs, and tibie red chestnut. The whole animal is some shade of chestnut brown, but the head and thorax are darker than the elytra. PRiONUS LATICOLLIS. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 5.) CERAMBIX LATICOLLIS (Drury) ; Prionvs BREVICoRNIs (Fab.). Insect dark chestnut brown ; head and thorax nearly black. Antenne very stout, consisting of twelve joints : tibia armed internally with two short spines; tarsi beneath yel- lowish. The insects of both species are light and dark chestnut brown ; almost black in the latter species. Their jaws are stout, and project ; and their bodies are longer in proportion to the anterior parts, the elytra extending a little beyond the abdomen. They belong to the large tribe of capricorn beetles, and form a family called Prionide, so termed from the structure of the antenne, which are jointed, and give the general appearance of a saw. Some of the tropical species are very large. 116 ORDER COLEOPTERA. Davry gives a long account of the grubs of this family : he states that they, together with several other wood-eaters, constitute a delicate eating ; and that in the torrid zone, a man may supply himself with animal food of this description, provided he has a knife or other cutting tool strong enough to penetrate the decaying trees. > Cerambycide. Axtexne slender, tapering and pointed, often elongated ; eyes kidney-shaped, the con- cavity of which receives the base of the antenn# ; thorax rounded and convex. SrENocoRUS cINCTUS. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 2.) Ceramuix BALTEATUS (Degeer) ; C. cinctus (Drury) ; Srexocnorvs Gancanicus (Fab.). Color grayish hazle : surface covered with a short gray nap. Thorax armed in the middle with a short spine : elytra ornamented with an oblique ochre-yellow bar near the thorax. Extreme length 1} inch. Antenne of the males more than twice as long as the body : seutellum is triangular, and yellowish in color; while the elytra are margined, and tipped with two small spines. This inhabits the hickory : its larve form galleries in the trunk of the tree, which run parallel to the grain of the wood. Ceramarx? ——. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 9.) Color black. Antenne ten-jointed ; basal joint oval and short, tuberculated, tubercles minute ; last joint long, slender; second joint nearly equal the last; the remainder nearly equal in length. Head with a prominence over each eye and a prolongation at the base of each antenna, making upon the front a deep longitudinal groove. Thorax appears to be transversely rugose, cylindrical, without tubercles or spines, but rather thickened behind, differing in that respect from the thorax of a Saperda, and slightly constricted near the elytra. Elytra thickly punctured, but scarcely confluent. The lower part of the tibise and tarsi hairy, but confined to the forelegs ; the others being only slightly hairy, if at all. This insect would make a very good saperda, were it not for the extreme length of the antenne and the form and character of the basal joint. I am not entirely satisfied with its reference to the Genus Ceramorx, still its characters do not materially disagree with those given by Mr. Westwoov. Length rather more than } of an inch. FAMILY CERAMBYCID. 117 Gexus CLYTUS. Leprvura (Linn.). Thorax globose, unarmed ; antennz setaceous, and shorter than the body ; elytra entire at the tip ; hindlegs clavate. Ciytvs specrosus (Say). Beautiful Clytus. ( Plate xvi, fig. 10.) Head yellow, with an obscure black circle between the antenne, enclosing a yellow dot : collar encircled with a yellow band : base of the mandible yellow ; lip black ; eyes black ; antenne black : scutellum marked with an oval spot. Thorax black, with two yellow transverse lines on each side : beneath, there is a yellow spot before the insertion of the forelegs. Elytra black : outer angles marked with three yellow elon- gated spots, separated by obscure black lines. Upon the anterior part the letter W is inscribed ; and the same above, with the inner lines reversed or inverted. Behind, there is an oblique narrow band running backward from the lower margin : the ter- minal third is yellow, with two dots of black. Beneath yellow, except at the insertion of the legs : legs yellow; tarsi of the forelegs dark brown or black, the others a shade of brown. CLYTUS NOBILIs. ( Plate viii, fig. 2.) Black or dark brown : head black, clothed with yellow hairs ; eyes black ; thorax black immaculate. Elytra marked with three yellow spots upon their basal third, and, below the middle, with two transverse lines, and four dots near the apices. Legs black upon their upper sides ; yellow beneath. Ciytus caprea (Say). Callidium caprea (Knoch). ( Plate xvi, fig. 11.) Color fuscous. Anterior edge of the thorax margined with yellow. Elytra marked by four yellow bands ; tip yellow : front depressed or grooved between the antenne. Thorax subearinate : first and second bands unite so as to enclose a large spot; the others transverse and undulatory, and wider upon the suture. Say remarks that the bands are sometimes white. Cuytvus pictus. C. flexuosus ( Fab.). ( Plate xvi, fig. 9.) Color black, ornamented profusely with yellow figures and yellow bands somewhat after the pattern of the speciosus. The head is marked with three transverse yellow stripes. On the elytra the first and second stripes are nearly straight, the third forms a W, the fourth is angled, the fifth is broken by a longitudinal elevated line, and the sixth consists of dots arranged in the form of an arch. Length variable, but about six- tenths of an inch. 118 ORDER COLEOPTERA. Ciytus UNDATUS. ( Plate viii, fig. 4.) Head anteriorly hairy ; parts about the front part of the head rufous; base and apex of the Interrupted band, of yellow hairs : seutellum dark brown. Elytra marked with yellow upon their margins ; the basal third is marked with an oblique line, succeeded by two yellow wavy bands : posterior angles of the elytra rounded off so as to show the last segment of the abdomen, Beneath, upon the breast, are three yellow spots, and also at the top of the ventral segments of the abdomen. Length about eight lines. Ciytus camresruis ( Oliv.). This is a small species, from four- to six-tenths of an inch long. Its color is brown, marked with two waved bands across the elytra and tips. The pronotum has four yellow dots arranged in a square, and the under parts are marked with the same color. The larva is injurious to fallen chestnut timber, damaging it for rails ; they burrow between the bark and wood, and also penetrate into the wood. The perfect insect appears in May and June. It inhabits the Northern States, New-York and New-England, and ex- tends as far south as Carolina ( Hatveman, Am. Phil, Transactions, x, 40). CLYTUS HAMATUS. ( Plate viii, fig. 7.) Color brown ; head banded with yellow ; scutel yellow. Elytra marked with two bars and a dash; a yellow dash near the base, two curved lines opening towards the shoulders, the inner leg extending along the suture to the scutel, and a yellow trans- verse curve opening downwards and situated below the middle : legs brown. Length half an inch. Ciytus . ( Plate viii, fig. 6.) Color brown. Head much concealed in the thorax, rather dilated, immaculate. Elytra marked with three transverse curved bars at equal distances ; outer angle of the apex pointed : legs long, brown. Length nearly half an inch. Ciytvs? ( Plate viii, fig. 3.) Antenne shorter than the body, setaceous ; second joint the longest : thorax globose, un- armed : elytra entire at the tip. Color black, somewhat yellowish gray from the presence of a yellowish nap. Head black, impressed with a sutural line with a trans- verse prominence or ridge at its base. Thorax marked with black oculate spots on the top and centre ; sides grayish, with a rectangular spot : below it is black. Elytra clothed with a short nap, marked by about three narrow grayish zigzag lines, and dashes of the same about the shoulders : towards the apex they are slightly separated ; and upon the apex, running up the suture, there is an obseure oblong gray spot. Be- neath, black and glossy : legs black. FAMILY CERAMBYCID. 119 This species I found in many parts of this State in June, and supposed it common. Al- though very peculiarly marked, I have been unable to satisfy myself as yet what name it has received. Ciytus (Plate viii, fig. 1.) Color rufescent, covered with prostrate hair : head black ; thorax grayish, from the lighter colored hair : elytra purplish brown, with three bands of lighter, the basal obscure, the apicial ones confluent on the elytral suture. All the thighs dilated and robust. This Clytus is obscurely marked ; and though it may be described, it differs much from those in my possession, and from accessible descriptions. The bands spoken of are brought out more distinctly in the figure than they appear in the specimens : the same remark will apply to the round black spot upon the base of the elytra; and, besides, I may add that the side of the trunk is marked by a distinct luteous spot, and another smaller one at the base of the middle legs. Genus SAPERDA ( Fas.). Head vertical, as broad as the thorax, slightly compressed at the sides or cylindrical, destitute of lateral spines : antennz filiform, and terminating in an elongated joint. The Genus Sarerpa contains several species known to be injurious to the interests of husbandry. Most of them are rather sluggish in their mature state, manifest far less activity than many other insects, and rarely attempt to escape when in danger of being captured. Some of them frequent flowers, but I belive all deposit their eggs upon trees or shrubs. When the eggs are hatched, the young larve penetrate the bark and wood, and injure very materially the growth of the tree in which they reside ; and as they are ge- nerally two or more years in coming to maturity, their hurtful effects are proportionally augmented. The larve feed upon the wood as they penetrate it, and derive their nutriment from the juices it contains. Their excrement appears like sawdust ; retaining in fact the color of the wood, after it has sufficed to nourish them, and has passed through their bodies. Their form is that which is common to the tribe, the rings near the head being wider than those of the rest of the animal. The head is usually scaly, and is retractile in part within the first ring : it is supplied necessarily with strong jaws, in order that the insect may eat its way into the wood. Their food is constantly before them in their path ; and it is a very curious fact, that though they may make their way into the wood, yet they usually direct their course towards the outside when about to change from the larva to the imago state. The larve are without legs, soft, white or yellowish white, elongated, and more or less flattened. One of the most destructive of these species is the larva of the Saperda candida. This 120 ORDER COLEOPTERA. species, liké many other insects, seems to be much more abundant some years or periods than others, and also more common in some districts than others, In illustration of this fact, I may refer to the existence of this species in the neighborhood of Troy in 1825. This was first made known to the public by the late Judge Buex, in one of the numbers of the Albany Cultivator. He says that ‘he was sent for by Mr. Heart of Troy, to witness the devastation made in a fine young orchard by a grub hitherto unknown to the farmers of the vicinity,and which to know and guard against was a great public interest.’ It appears from the letter that the orchard was injured to the extent of two thousand dollars, according to the estimate of Mr. Heanrtr. The larva of this species penetrates the young tree just above, or it may be just below, the surface. In its progress, it euts its way in a winding direction upward ; and as it is three years in coming to maturity, it continues to mine onward, cuts off the cireulation of the sap, and deprives the tree of its necessary nutriment. One borer is sufficient to stop the greavth of a young appletree ; and if several are mining at the same time, the tree is inevitably destroyed. All the workings being near the root, the tree is after a while so perfectly riddled with holes that it has no strength to stand. The circumstances that favor these results, are, first,a poor soil, containing but little nutriment ; the second is the growth of sprouts or suckers from the root, and of grass, which protects the base of the tree from- sunshine, and conceals from the view of the owner the work which is going on. Hence all young trees should be kept free from these incumbrances at the root : this is one of the preventives of a fatal result, and should not be neglected. It is needless to dwell upon the injurious effects of the appletree borer. I would take the liberty to caution the owners of orchards of fruit trees not to trust to uncertain measures, as the surrounding of the roots and base of the tree with tanbark or any other material — of the kind. A judicious use of the knife and a good stiff wire are the only certain means of getting rid of these customers, when they have once got possession of the premises. The perfect insect, according to Dr. Hanrnis, comes forthgin June : this, at any rate, is the month during which I have found them. They come out at night : in the daytime they are engaged in feeding upon the leaves of the tree, or remain quietly at rest, very rarely flying during the day. That carelessness and inattention to young and old orchards is the great cause of the prevalence of this insect among us, is true ; and so long as so many neglect the means for ridding their trees of this pest, so long it will continue to harass those who are on the watch, and who intend and wish to raise good fruit. A remedy, consisting of a solution of eamphor in chloroform, may be tried, by inserting in the borings a plug of cotton wool soaked in it ; it is worthy of trial, and may save cutting away the sound wood of the tree. Or perhaps camphor alone, or ammonia formed by rubbing together sal ammoniac and an alkali, either lime or potash, reduced to powder, and introduced into a burrow where it is dangerous to follow the larva, may be worth the experiment. FAMILY CPRAMBYCID. 121 The larvee of the Saperda calcarata infest lombardy poplars. They are yellowish white, and, when full grown or mature, are nearly two inches long : the body is thick, dilated before, and consists of twelve segments separated from each other by deep transverse furrows. In August and September, the beetle may be found on the different species of poplar : it flies by night. It is harmless in comparison to the appletree saperda ; but one of our finest shade trees is the aspen, which is often destroyed by this borer. Their pre- sence may be known by their castings, which lodge on some part of the tree. The Saperda (Oberea) tripunctata seems to be equally destructive with the two former to forest and shade trees. It is about the size of the candida, but quite different in its markings, as will be seen by a reference to the description. It attacks the linden, and, by burrowing beneath the bark, destroys the vitality of the tree, large flakes of which fall off gradually and drop to the ground as their attachments are broken. SAPERDA VESTITA. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 4.) Color olive or light drab, nearly uniform : surface beneath the close-pressed nap, black. Head and thorax immaculate. Elytra dotted, each dot giving origin to a smal]l pencil of black hairs : dot-punctures in lines at the base and along the sides, and marked with four black dots a little above the middle of the elytra ; and sometimes there are other dots, owing to the denuded nap upon little elevated points of the elytra. Length seven-tenths of an inch. This species attacks the linden : the larve, by their burrows beneath the bark and _ within the wood, effectually destroy the tree in a few years. Sarerpa canpipa (Fab.). S. bivittata ( Say). ( Plate xvi, fig. 3.) Color light brown, marked upy the upper side with two white stripes extending the whole length of the insect : face, antenne, underside of the body and legs white. The white is due to the clothing, which consists of a white close-pressed short nap : where rub- bed off, the surface is black. The white stripes decussate from the forehead, leaving the grey-brown stripe on the top of the thorax passing down the sutural line. Length ‘six-'to seven-tenths of an inch. Saperpa (AN=REA) CALCARATA. ( Plate xvi, fig. 1.) Color gray or ashen, and covered with a short dense close nap : surface covered with raised points or dots : thorax marked with three pale ochreous stripes, which de- cussate from the forehead. The elytra are also marked by partial stripes and bands of the same color : apex terminating ina straight short spine ; beneath pale gray ochre- ous. Beneath the nap, the surface is black. Length nine-tenths of an inch. [ Acricutturat Rerort— Vot. v.] 16 SAPERDA TRIDENTA. (Plate xxvi, fig. 6.) Antenne slender, sborter than the body, second longest. Color rusty brown, approaching to an olive ; sutural Ine passing through the head and thorax. Inseet ornamented with pale brick-red stripes : face margined, and eyes surrounded with the colored stripe referred to. Stripes nearly unite between the antennw ; from thence they diverge abruptly, and form lateral stripes upon the thorax ; thence they proceed to the prominent or angular shoulders, run down upon the sides of the ,and meet the outer angle of the apex, and then pass round on the inside a short istance upon the sutural line. These stripes send off three diverging ones : the first is arched ; the seeond or middle is straight, but passes obliquely downwards near the suture ; the last, or apical one is short, and arched. The sides of the thorax are marked by four oval spots. The two spots on the top of the thorax are obscure ; but in some there seem to be four, though the two near the head may be produced by loss 0 drab-colored nap. Beneath hoary, the whitish nap covering a black ground. Extremity of the abdomen truncate. Outer angle of the elytra rounded. Sarexnpa ——. ¢ Color yellowish drab, uniform : head, thorax and elytra covered with a close-pressed short nap. Thorax longitudinally marked with pale yellow stripes alternating with deeper. Elytra punctured, and marked with about seven obscure yellowish spots on each. Sarrupa (Ournea) Taipunctata. Raspberry Saperda. ( Plate xvi, fig. 7.) ‘Color black : breast and top of the thorax rusty yellow. There are usually two elevated « black dots on the middle of the thorax, and a third on the hinder edge. Antenne of a moderate length, and scarcely taper. Wing-covers coarsely punctured : punctures in rows on the top, but irregular on the sides and tips. Length from three-tenths to half an inch’ (Haanis). There is also a black spot on the sides of the thorax. Dr. Hannis observes that this insect completes its transformations near the end of July, and jays its eggs early in August on the stems of the blackberry or raspberry. The grubs burrow into the pith of the stem, and destroy it by the end of summer. The grubs are cylindrical in the middle, and thickened at each end. The first three rings are short, and each is provided beneath with imperfect legs in the form of minute pointed warts : the rest of the rings are smooth. Gexus MONOCHAMUS. . Elytra somewhat parallel ; antenna glabrous ; anterior male tarsi hairy ; forelegs longest ; thorax laterally spined*. * Kiser, in his generic characters in the Fauna Boreall, sa; 6 this genus has eleven joints in the antennm. I believe it has only ten, and the last joint fs the longest, or equal to the seeond. FAMILY CERAMBYCID. 123 MonocHAMUS TITILLATOR. ( Plate xvi, fig. 5.) Brownish, mottled with gray spots. Elytra tufted with patches of dark brown hairs : an- tenn, in the male, twice as long as the body ; in the female, they equal it in length. Length one inch and more. The middle leg has a protuberance on the upper side. The mottlings are somewhat variable, owing in part to the removal of the short close nap that covers the insect. MonocuamMus MACULOSUS. Color blackish brown. Elytra mottled and furnished with small patches of raised spots tufted with hair, rather coarsely punctured : apex, on the inner side, armed with a spine ; outer angle rounded : protuberance of the tibiz one-third the length from the tarsi. It is rather smaller than the ¢iti/lator. The two foregoing species are rather common in Albany county : indeed, common to New-York and New-England. Monocuamus SCUTELLATUS. Color dark brown, darker upon the base of the elytra. Scutel white, hairy, strongly pune- tured : punctures confluent at the base. Antenne and legs dark brown. MonocuaMus PULCHER. Color lighter brown than the scufe//atus. Thorax and elytra variegated with patches of white nap. OncipDEREs cinGuLATus ( Serv.). ( Plate xxii, fig. 1.) Ash-gray, banded : head inclining to brown : thorax ash, together with the middle of the elytra; base and terminal extremity darker, and somewhat mottled. Length six- tenths of an inch. Pm, Dr. Havpeman remarks", that ‘this insect appears in Pennsylvania during the last two weeks in August and first week in September. It feeds upon the bark of the walnut (Carya alba). The ova are a Jime and a half Jong, and are deposited in excavations in the small limbs. After the ova are deposited, the female gnaws a groove around the limb, which consequently dies ina short time : this seems to be intended for the future progeny, as the lary are found feeding upon the dead wood. When the insect is abundant, much damage may be done to the young growth of the hickory, when it is of the size suitable for hoop-poles.’ When the main stem is girdled by the insect, a lateral shoot appears, that may be attacked the next year, to be in its turn amputated after undergoing the same operation : in a few years, the tree presents a curious appearance. * Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia; Harpreman, Am, Phil. Transactions, x, 52. ae ORDER COLEOPTERA. ' Lamia —. . (Plate xxvi, fig. 9.) Color gray, and banded. Thorax spined at the sides : face marked with an impressed line, depressed between the antenne ; antenne ten-jointed, first joint narrowed at base, second joint slightly longest, the upper half of each very black, the lower half gray. Front of the thorax is marked by a black transverse line, in the rear of which there are two sinall black spots : posterior part of the thorax is pune with black, especially the transverse groove. Elytra thickly and coarsely p with black, and traversed by four belts, the two front ones incomplete : they are zigzag in form, _ and interrupted by gray spaces. Abdomen narrowed somewhat behind, and terminated by a black ovipositor. Femora thickened, and clavate at the tibial end, gray ; tibie marked by blaek rings ; tarsi black. Post-pectus deeply emarginate and giay. The foregoing is a rare species in this vicinity. Its ovipositor shows that its eggs are deposited in wood, and henee it is an injurious inseet to timber. bear Get ay ovipositor, seven-eighths of an inch. Terraores TetnopuTuaLma ( Forster). AM. tornator ( Fab.). (PL y, fig. u. ) Color brick-red. Thorax marked with four black dots arranged in the form of a square. Elytra marked with four black dots; two near the basal angles, and two placed longitudinally upon the middle. Antenne black : body beneath and legs black. . This insect is common on the silkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in June and July, and is pte ny distributed, extending from Massachusetts to Carolina ( HaLpemay’s Mat. Hist. Long. Am. Phil. Soc. x, 53). It is a harmless insect in its mature state. Exvarmtpion vittosum (Fab.). E. putator ( Peck). ( Plate xvi, fig. 8.) Color brown, gray or hoary from patches and stripes of grayish down : thorax more villose than the elytra. Antenne spinous : the second joint armed with a ‘Spine as "Jong, or nearly as long as the third joint ; the spine of the third joint, one- “Yong as the fourth joint ; on the fourth joint, the spine is shorter still. Elytra pune- tured, and apex spined. Beneath, the same color as above : Tegs villous ; hindlegs "armed with a short spine. " Although about a dozen species of this genus have been discovered in the Uni the habits of this one only are known. The larva feeds upon the wood of pana the blackoak, and more rarely of hickory and chesnut ; and on one occasion I reared a men, apparently of this species, from a larva taken from the dead trunk of a small spruce tree. The insect is half an inch or more in length, and may be distinguished by its chesnut color, varied with yellowish spots of down ; the small spine upon some of the joints of the antenne, and two upon the tip of each elytron; and by the smooth raised medial line, and tubercle, upon each side of the pronotum above. FAMILY LEPTURIDA. 125 When the larva attains its full growth in the branch, which is about half an inch thick, it cuts it off transversely from the inside, leaving the bark alone untouched ; and this _ slender hold is severed by the storms of autumn, when the branch and larva fall together. The larva does not leave its shelter until the next spring, when it appears as a perfect insect in May and June. Evapruipion? ——. ( Plate viii, fig. 9.) Head small : thorax somewhat flattened, dilated at the sides. Antenne ten-jointed : the tenth longest ; the second, third, fourth and fifth spinous upon the inside. Thorax marked by two sharp impressed lines : legs equal or subequal. Color of the body luteous, from the close pressed hair or nap : thorax brownish, without tubercles or armature : elytra luteous, mottled somewhat by darker spots, narrowed somewhat behind, and terminated by two spines concealed in the hair. Beneath slightly brownish, and clothed with appressed hair, especially upon the breast. I refer this insect to the Genus Evarninion, though its generic character may not en- tirely warrant it. Lepturide. Tue insects under the name of Lerrurip», or Lepturians, constitute a third family of the capricorn beetles. The body is narrowed behind : eyes rounded, oval, and rather promi- nent; and the antenne are situated farther from them than in the other species, and are implanted near the middle of the forehead : thorax widened behind : head connected with the thorax by a narrow neck. Colors bright. Gexus DESMOCERUS ( Dej.). Crramsyx (Forster) ; Srexoconvs ( Fab.). Eyes lunated, surrounding the base of the antenne : head sloped before ; palpi terminated by a large joint in the form of an elongated compressed cone : thorax subquadrate or subcylindrical : antenne setaceous. DesMOcERUS PALLIATUS. ( Plate xvi, fig. 6.) Color deep violet or prussian blue : nearly one half of the elytra orange yellow. The larve live in the stem of the white elder, and feed upon its pith. This year (1853) this insect has been very numerous in the vicinity of Albany. Genus RHAGIUM (Fas.). Leprura ( Lin.). * Body broad, depressed : thorax with spines on each side ; antenne short’ (Westwoop). 196 ORDER COLFOPTERA. Ruactom tixeatus ( Oliv.). Antenne short. Thorax narrow, eylindrieal before and behind : eats ort the thor ~ furnished with « pointed wart on each side. Elytra wide at t "ing, ‘cotivex above, with punctures betiweeh the smooth serist soarour fesse et with black and reddish ash colors, the former arranged in transverse bands. “Under- side variegated with dull red, gray and black. The grubs of this beetle burrow under the bark of the piteh Batts in ne anaes of which, it is loosened, and falls off, when the tree dies. The grubs often n when about to become pupe, each one forms for itself an oval et of woody bres. The beetle is matured before the close of winter, but remains til] the spring cpens (Hamu, Injurious Insects of Massachusetts, pp. 92 - 93). I have found the Jarva under the bark of the yellow pine and white pine, where oe is . readily recognized by forming, at the period of its transformation, an oval cavity, border of which is made of woody fibres. The habits of the European Rhegivin ix tre ( Fabr.), are similar. This insect is usually about seven-tenths of an inch long, although it is sometimes found no longer than four-tenths. Its color is gray, marked with black : the surface is somewhat downy ; the antenna are short; the elytra wide at the base, and having several raised lines; and the prothorax has a toberele on each side. The perfect insect appears in May ( Harpeman, MS. Notes). y “ft Porrvaicenus nymenaris ( Fab.). ( Plate xvi, fig. 4.) Blaek. Elytra marked with a rightangled triangular scarlet spot situated upon the base of the elytron, the hypothenuse passing by the side of the seutel. Thorax, neck seulp- tured and rugose, and furnished with a lateral pointed tubercle and two elevated roughened ridges or eminences on the median line. Length variable : female, six- tenths of an inch; male, less than half an inch. This insect seems to be rare in the vicinity of Albany, as not more than three or four specimens have been taken in the last three or four years. Gexus LEPTURA. Antenne elongate, basal joint robust, second minute ; eyes narrowed above. Head ex- serted : thorax convex, unarmed. Insect narrowed behind from the base of the aliat to the extremity of the abdomen : Jegs elongate, slender. Lerrora vittata ( Oliv.). ( Plate viii, fig. 13.) Color black or very dark brown : head, thorax and legs black : elytra punctured black, and marked with a rufous stripe extending from their base to two-thirds of their length, and occupying the middle of the elytrum. Beneath, the insect is clothed with short gray appressed hairs. FAMILY LEPTURIDA. 127 Leprura RUBRICA. Color black : head and thorax black, pubescent ; four first joints of the antenne black, the remainder luteous at base. Elytra ferruginous, punctured ; apex of the outer angle pointed, and longer than the inner, divaricate : legs black. I refer this to fig. 10, pl. viii : the apex of the elytra in that figure is truncate. LepruRA MALACHITICUS. Splendent green, with steel-blue reflections : punctures dilated deep, imparting a rough appearance. Antenne and scutel black : thighs rufous, and lower half of tarsi dark brown or black : prothorax with a lateral tubercle, oeeupying nearly a central posi- tion. This beautiful insect is quite rare in the vicinity of Albany, a single specimen only having been observed. Leprura ocropuncrata (Say). Elytra marked with eight irregular-shaped spots or dots, smallest upon the apex. Lerrura ( Plate xxvi, fig. 11.) Color black (the light color is due to a close gray nap). Antenne ten-jointed : first some- what turbinate, third shortest, second the next shortest ; the three first black or dark brown, the remainder rufous. Peetus and thighs brown, and a stripe beneath the shoulders. The posterior part of the thorax surrounded by a sharp ridge, which extends down the sides : this ridge is bounded by grooves; and before it, and near the middle, are two elevations, scarcely tubercles : anteriorly it is surrounded by a broad groove. Behind the antenne, there is a deep depression upon the median line of the head. Length three quarters of an inch. LEPTURA SUBPUBESCENS. ( Plate viii, fig. 11.) Color black, thinly covered with luteous hairs, punctured : head and neck roughened, covered with hairs. Antenne black ; third joint shorter than the fourth. Elytra punctured, rufous or dull brick-red, terminated by a black belt extending up the outer margin, divergent towards the apex ; apex truncate. Point of abdomen exposed : beneath black, submetallic. : Genus PACHYTA (Sery.). ‘ Body robust : thorax subconical, with an obsolete obtuse tubercle on each side ; elytra short, nearly paralle] ; humeral angles not very prominent’ ( Westwoop). Pactiyta conpireaa ( Oliv.). ( Plate viil, fig. 12.) ‘Front clothed with yellow hair; frontal line Impressed. Prothorax much widened and biarcuate posteriorly, covered with yellow hair, and having the median line obsolete. Elytra divaricate, and separately pointed at the tip : a minute black spot at the basal angle, and another (sometimes double ) between it and the large macula. Length nearly half an inch’ ( Hatpemax, Longicornia, Trans. Am. Phil. Soe. x, 59). A variety, /unaris, also described in the same work, is black, tomentose : venter dull rufous ; elytra yellow ; apex, and a semicircular macula behind the middle on the anterior margin, black. GuamMorTERA ——. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 3.) Body black : eyes black, and slightly emarginate on the inner side ; color of the upper de tateatn. pak Ge sles Binsin, nad the