CUPESID^. 469 



moderate in length and broadly dilated. Thanasimus differs 

 in the body being hair}', while the posterior tarsi are longer 

 and scarcely dilated. The long narrow slender pink larvae can 

 be found under the bark of dead pine trees where they probably 

 prey upon the larvae of Hylurgus and Hylobius. The larvae 

 of Clerus are of a beautiful red color. The European Clerus 

 alvearms infests the nests of the Mason-bees, Osmia and Meg- 

 achile. "The larva when hatched, first devours the grub of 

 the bee in the cell in which it is born and then proceeds from 

 cell to cell, preying upon the inhabitant of each until arrived 

 at maturity. It is in this situation, also, that it undergoes its 

 changes in a small cocoon, which it has previously constructed, 

 making its escape from the nest in the beetle state, where the 

 hardness of its covering sufficiently defends it from the stings 

 of the bees." (Westwood.) 



LvMEXYLiDiE Lcach. This small group, chiefly interesting 

 as containing a genus which has proved of great mischief to 

 the ship timber of Europe, from its boring habits, is distin- 

 guished by the head being bent down and 

 narrowed behind ; b}' the usuall}^ ver}- large 

 eyes, the two ciliate lobes of the maxillae, 

 the palpi of which are stout, four-jointed, 

 and in the male very large and flabellate, 

 while the mandibles are short and obtusely 

 bidentate. The body is long and narrow, 

 with slender legs. Tiie genus Lymexylon has five abdominal 

 segments. The larva is very long and slender, with the first 

 thoracic segment dilated into a large hood, while the terminal 

 ring is produced into a large obtuse lobe. In Europe it 

 greatly injures oak trees and ship timber, but our species 

 (Lymexjdon sericeum Harris, Fig. 438, and antennae, legs and 

 palpi) is too rare to be of any harm at present. 



CuPESiD^ Lacordaire. Leconte states that "the affinities 

 of this family are very obscure ; in the form and insertion of 

 the antennae it is similar to the first genera of tlic next family, 

 but other characters, such as the form of the coxa» and the re- 

 tractility of the legs, are at variance. The body is covered 



