an Insect of the Genus Buprestis. — 401 
game insect; but in this I cannot agree with him, as neither de- 
ionfior figure accords with B. splendens. ) 
breadth of the excavation, as made by the insect, when it was 
planed down to half its depth. The total length of the channel 
could not be ascertained, as it is evident the whole width of the 
plank was not sent. Fig 4. represents a section of the entrance 
of the full size. i Ä 
It is a subject of curious inquiry to know in what state the 
insect remained for such a term of years in this wood, whether 
as a larva, a pupa, or as a perfectly formed animal, or what 
length of time in each state. Some insects remain a consider- 
able time in the larva state, as the Wire-Worm, which is said to 
be five years before its change into pupa. Others again remain 
two or three years as pupa, and many coleopterous insects will 
live a considerable time: in their last or perfect state. The pre- 
sent discovery, however, establishes one fact, which has hitherto 
appeared doubtful, viz. where the larve of Buprestis inhabit, 
and on what substance they feed. ‘The celebrated Baron De 
Geer, and after him Olivier, suspected that they lived in dry 
wood, because the first had discovered a dead specimen of Bu- 
prestis rustica in a beam of a house, and the latter B. Mariana 
upon the trunks of worm-eaten pine-trees, and in the timber- 
yard 
