THE BEETLE AND ITS ALLIES 



51 



FIG. 51. 



rujlpes, a metallic 

 wood-borer. From 

 "Standard Natural 

 History." 



roses, and other members of the plant family Rosaceae. 



The larvae of the May-beetles are the fat, whitish, bowed 



grubs which are often found in the spring in the soil where 



they have passed the winter. They are 



very destructive, for they feed on roots of 



grass, herbs, and shrubs (Fig. 41). 



Another family of beetles very destruc- 

 tive to trees is that of the metallic wood- 

 borers or Buprestidae. 1 The adults are 



found upon flowers and the bark of trees, 



where their metallic colors glitter in the 



sunshine (Fig. 51). The larvae, which 



have relatively enormous heads, bore 



beneath the bark of trees or into the 



wood. This family reaches its highest 



development in the tropics. 



Closely allied to the foregoing is the family of click 



beetles or Elateridae. 2 These have the power, when placed 



on their backs, of leaping into the air by 

 means of a special device on the under 

 side of the animal (Fig. 52). The larvae, 

 called "wire-worms' because of their 

 round, hard bodies, live under the bark 

 of trees and in rotten wood or upon vegeta- 

 tion in the ground. They are most de- 

 structive to germinating grain, especially 

 maize. It requires several years for them 

 to mature. 



The fireflies (Lampyridae 3 ) make up 



?, among the ancients a poisonous beetle, living in grass by 

 swallowing which oxen (/SoOs) swell out (trp^d^ . 



2 eXariyp, driver. 3 Xd^Trw, to shine ; oupd, tail. 



FIG. 52. One of the 

 click beetles. 

 Nat. size. Photo, 

 by W. H. C. P. 



