COLEOPTERA. 43 



ing the retreats of these borers, and in dragging out the defence- 

 less culprits from their burrows, than the most skilful gardener or 

 nurseryman. 



Until within a few years the Buprestians were all included in 

 three or four genera. A great number of kinds have now become 

 known, probably six hundred or more. In a paper on these 

 insects, published by me in 1829, in the beginning of the eighth 

 volume of the " New England Farmer," the characters of several 

 groups were pointed out ; these have since been made into 

 genera, and many more new generical groups have been proposed 

 and described by European naturalists. As the insects belonging 

 to the greater number of these new genera do not differ essen- 

 tially from each other in their habits and transformations, I have 

 retained most of them in the old genus Buprestis, but have indi- 

 cated the new groups by enclosing the names given to them 

 within parentheses. 



The largest of these beetles in this part of the United States is 

 the Buprestis (Chalcophora) Virginica of Drury, or Virginian 

 Buprestis. It is of an oblong oval form, brassy, or copper-colored ; 

 sometimes almost black, with hardly any metallic reflections. 

 The upper side of the body is roughly punctured ; the top of the 

 head is deeply indented ; on the thorax there are three polished 

 black elevated lines ; on each wing-cover are two small square 

 impressed spots, a long elevated smooth black line near the outer, 

 and another near the inner margin, with several short lines of the 

 same kind between them ; the under-side of the body is sparingly 

 covered with short whitish down. It measures from eight tenths 

 of an inch to one inch or more in length. This beetle appears 

 towards the end of May, and through the month of June, on pine- 

 trees and on fences. In the larva state it bores into the trunks of 

 the different kinds of pines, and is oftentimes very injurious to 

 these trees. 



The wild cherry-tree (Prunus serotina), and also the gar- 

 den cherry and peach trees suffer severely from the attacks of 

 borers, which are transformed to the beetles called Buprestis (Di- 

 cerca) divaricata by Mr. Say, because the wing-covers divaricate 

 or spread apart a little at the tips. These beetles are copper- 

 colored, sometimes brassy above, and thickly covered with little 



