l62 



THE STUDY OF INSECTS 



Fig. 282. 



THE TYPICAL CERAMBYCIDS 



In this group the prothorax is rounded on the sides, the tibise 

 of the fore legs arc not grooved, and the palpi are never acute at the tip. 

 There are nearly four hundred American species, representing more than 

 one hundred genera. The few species mentioned below are 

 those that the beginning student is most likely to meet. 



The ribbed pine-borer, Rhagium lineatum. • — This is a 

 gray beetle mottled with black, and has a narrow thorax, 

 with a spine on each side (Fig. 282). It received its name 

 because of the three ridges extending lengthwise on each 

 wing-cover. Its larva bores in the wood of pine-trees. On 

 one occasion the writer found many of them in a pine-tree 

 eight inches in diameter, which they had bored through and through. 

 When the larva is full-grown it makes a hole nearly through the thick 

 bark of the tree, so that it may easily push its way out after its trans- 

 formations; it then retreats a short distance and makes a little ring of 

 chips around itself, between the bark and the wood, and changes to a 

 pupa within this rude cocoon. The adult beetle remains in this pupal 

 cell through the winter. 



The cloaked knotty-horn, Desmocerus palliatus. — This beautiful 

 insect is of a dark blue color, with greenish 

 reflections. The basal part 

 of the wing-covers is orange- 

 yellow, giving the insect the 

 appearance of having a yellow 

 cape thrown over its shoulders 

 (Fig. 283). The segments in 

 the middle of the antennae are 

 thickened at the outer end, so 

 that they look like a series of 



knots. The adult is quite COm- Fig. 283. — Desmocerus pallia- 



mon in June and July on elder, 



in the pith of which the larva bores. 



The beautiful maple-borer, Glycobius specibsus. — 

 This is a handsome insect, marked with black and 

 yellow, as indicated in Figure 284. It lays its eggs 

 in midsummer on the trunks of sugar-maples, in the wood of which 

 the larvae bore. If an infested tree be examined in the spring the pres- 

 ence of these borers can be detected by the dust that 

 falls from the burrows. The larvae can be destroyed at 

 this time by the use of a knife and a stiff wire. 



The locust-borer, Cyllene robmice. — To the enthusiastic 

 entomologist the goldenrod is a rich mine, yielding to the col- 

 lector more treasures than any other flower. It gives up its 

 gold-dust pollen to every insect-seeker ; and because of this 

 generous attitude to all comers it is truly emblematic of 

 the country that has chosen it as its national flower. 



Among the insects that revel in this golden mine in the 

 autumn is a black beetle with numerous transverse or wavy yellow bands 

 (Fig. 285). This beetle is also found on locust-trees, where it lays its 

 eggs. The larvae bore under the bark and into the hard wood. 



Fig. 284. 





Fig. 28s. 



