BEETLES. 81 



rod, its children have a different taste. Hence the 

 female deposits her eggs in the crevices of the bark 

 of Locust trees, and the grubs issuing from them 

 immediately bore holes into the trunks of these trees, 

 making winding passages through them, and feeding 

 exclusively on the wood and pith. These Insects 

 continue in the condition of grulbs only about a year, 

 they being metamorphosed into perfect Beetles in the 

 following September, but while in this transition state 

 they are very active, and the destruction of Locust 

 trees by them is very considerable. 



Dr. Harris, of Cambridge, in his Report on the 

 injurious Insects of Massachusetts, speaks of this Beetle 

 particularly, and the late Thomas Say, in his American 

 Entomology, Table 53, represents four new species, 

 which he calls Clytus speciosus, C. hamatus, C. undu» 

 latus, and C. Caprea. 



We have now comparatively little to fear from 



the ravages of noxious Insects, since our prudent 



Legislatures have enacted laws for the protection 



of Birds, the great destroyers of Insects, and it is 



probably on this account, alone, that many species of 



Insects injurious to vegetation have almost entirely 



disappeared. In my travels through several States I 



have not, for the last two years, met with any of the 



Rose-bugs (Macrodactylus subspinosus), so destructive 



to every flower, nor with any of the Spotted Rutela 

 6 



