BEETLES. 89 



wood of fences, and in the roots of diseased plum and 

 damson-trees. 



Family XXIV. BUPRESTIDJE. 



Antennse eleven-jointed, filiform or dentated. Mesosternnm 

 with an excavation, into which a process of the prosternum 

 fits. The hinder angles of the pronotum are obtuse or 

 rectangular. They are sluggish beetles. The abdomen is 

 composed of five segments, the front ones being more or less 

 amalgamated. The larv?e, which are elongated, with a large 

 head, live in wood or the stems of plants. The beetles are 

 found on wood, and fly about during the midday heat. 



Genus Chalcophora, Solier. 



Prosternum fiat, with two grooves. Pronotum narrowed 

 in front, widest beneath, with almost straight sides and 

 rectangular hinder angles. The elytra are rather broader 

 than the pronotum, and somewhat flat. The antennae are 

 obtusely serrated on the inner side. 



G. mariana, Linn. (Plate X., Fig. 1). Shining coppery, 



almost golden beneath, powdered in fresh specimens; the 



pronotum and wing-cases with irregular raised longitudinal 



striate. It is a native of Southern Europe, where it lives 



in pine-woods, in sandy places. The larva lives in the old 



trunks. 



Genus Dicerca, Eschsch. 



Distinctly convex. Pronotum uneven. Elytra narrowed 

 behind in an undulating line, the extremity being more or less 

 produced. The extreme end is truncated, usually with two 

 teeth. The abdominal segments are deeply emarginate in 

 the males with a tooth on each side, sharply tridentated in 

 the females. They are found about cut wood in forests. 



