COLEOPTERA 



149 



The adults are found upon flowers and upon the bark of trees, basking 

 in the hot sunshine. Some of them fly very rapidly, with a loud buzzing 

 noise; and some drop to the ground when disturbed, and feign death. 



Most of the larvae are borers, feeding beneath bark or within solid 

 wood. In such species the body is of a very characteristic form, which 

 is commonly designated as " flat-headed." The flattened portion, how- 

 ever, is composed largely of the segments immediately following the head. 

 The first thoracic segment is very wide and flat; the next two or three 

 segments are also flattened, but are successively smaller; while the rest 

 of the body is quite narrow and cylindrical. These " flat-headed" larvae 

 are legless, and have been compared to tadpoles on account of their 

 form. Their burrows are flattened, corresponding with the shape of the 

 larger part of the body. In some of the smaller species the larvas are 

 cylindrical, and are furnished with three pairs of legs. These are leaf- 

 miners; and in the adult state the body is much shorter than in the 

 more typical species. 



This family is represented in our fauna by nearly three hundred 

 species; among the more important of those that infest cultivated plants 

 are the following. 



The Virginian buprestid, Chalcophora virginica. — ■ This is the largest 

 of our common buprestids (Fig. 253). It is 

 copper-colored, often almost black, and has 

 its upper surface roughened by irregular, 

 lengthwise furrows. This beetle appears late 

 in spring in the vicinity of pine-trees. The 

 larvae bore in the wood of pine, and are often 

 very injurious. 



Dicerca divaricdta is f of an inch or more 

 in length, copper-colored or brassy above, with 

 the wing-covers marked with square, elevated, black spots. 

 The wing-covers taper very much behind, and are separated at the 

 tips (Fig. 254). The larva bores in peach, cherry, beech, and maple. 



flat-headed apple-tree borer, Chrysobothris femorata. — This is 

 one of the most injurious of all buprestids. The adult (Fig. 

 255) is about I an inch long, and is very dark green above, with 

 bronze reflections, especially in the furrows of the wing-covers. 

 It appears during June and July, and lays its eggsupon the trunk and 

 limbs of apple, peach, oak, and other trees. The larvae at first 

 bore into the bark and sap-wood, and later into the solid 

 wood. The transformations are completed in one year, 

 red-necked agrilus, Agrilus ruficollis. — This beetle is 

 of an inch long (Fig. 256). Its body is narrow and nearly 

 cylindrical. The head is of a dark bronze color, the prothorax of 

 a beautiful coppery bronze, and the wing-covers black. The larva 

 bores in the stems of raspberry and blackberry, causing a large FlG - 256 - 

 swelling, known as the raspberry gouty-gall. These galls should be collected 

 and burned in early spring. 



The bronze birch-borer, Agrilus anxius, is a greenish-bronze beetle about 

 ^ of an inch long which appears in June and July and deposits its egg in 

 cracks of the bark of the white birch and of other birches. The whitish, 

 slender larvae bore through the sapwood and inner bark completely girdling 

 the branches and trunk and usually killing the trees. 



Fig. 254. 



Fig. 253. 



The 



Fig. 255. 



The 

 about x 



