ORDER COLEOPTERA 189 



the larva bores through the flat attached surface directly 

 into the leaf. 



The larva. The larvae are legless. When first hatched 

 they are of the flattened "tadpole" shape characteristic of 

 this family; only a bit flatter than usual. The prothorax is 

 greatly widened, and behind it the body is rather suddenly 

 contracted to parallel sides in the rear. The head is re- 

 tracted into the first body segment. This segment is sub- 

 quadrangular in shape, being wider than the remainder of 

 the body and several times as long as any other segment. 

 The median third of this segment is furnished with rec- 

 tangular brownish plates on the upper and under sides. On 

 the front border of this first segment at its sides are two 

 little fleshy projections that in life are capable of consider- 

 able movement and that seem to aid in determining the 

 direction of progress. There are fine backwardly directed 

 setulae over the body, and there is a small spine on the anal 

 segment: these are no doubt of great assistance in pushing 

 forward. 



There are three larval instars and after the first the larva 

 becomes more elongated and a little less flattened. Broad, 

 flat callosities are developed underneath the thoracic seg- 

 ments. 



The larvae make blotch mines whose borders are more or 

 less determined by principal veins. All the mesophyll is 

 eaten out of them and the coarse frass is cast toward the 

 center in irregular heaps, while the larvae feed in the clean, 

 outer borders of the mine. Each moult occurs, and pupa- 

 tion as well, in the central spacious part of the mine. 



The pupa. The naked pupa is strongly depressed in 

 form and heavily chitinized. Often, in a puffy mine, it 

 lies so loosely that it may rattle about like a pea in a pod. 

 The appendages are rather closely sealed together and are 

 immovable. 



The adult The leaf-mining Buprestids are, naturally, 



