Golden Beetle

Golden Beetle, the name popularly given to many members of a genus of coleopterous insects, Chrysomela, and of a sub-family, Chrysomelinae, belonging to the tetrameronous section of the order. The body is generally short and convex, the antennæ are simple and wide apart at the base; some of the species are destitute of wings. None are of large size, but many are distinguished by their metallic splendour of colour. The finest species are tropical, but some are found in Britain—e.g. the golden C. cerealis with purple stripes found on Snowdon, and the brassy-green C. polita and C. staphylca commonly found on nettles in spring. In north temperate countries some of the adults of the autumnal brood sleep through the winter, awakening in spring to reproductive functions. Some of them, in the larval state, commit ravages on the produce of the field and garden.