52 BUPREvSTID-BEETLES. 



The largest of our common Buprestids is the Virginian Bu- 

 prestid (Chalcophora virgmiensis Drury). It is very abundant 

 wherever pine trees grow in forests. It is a copper-colored in- 

 sect, with the elytra deeply and irregularly furrowed. The lar- 

 vae are very destructive to pines, but are also found in other 

 trees- A similar European species is illustrated in Fig. 6l. 

 The genus Dicerca contains a number of kinds of a more robust 

 form, which have the elytra so strongly narrowed toward the 

 tips as to appear like tails. The wing-covers are very convex, 

 irregularly marked with elevated spots and ridges, copper-colored 

 or brassy, with greenish reflections. Their larvae infest a number 

 of trees, among them the peach, plum, cherry, hickory, beach and 

 maple. 



THE DIVARICATED BUPRESTIS. 



{Dicerca divaricata Say). 



This beetle is fairlv abundant in Minnesota, and is illus- 

 trated in Fig. 62 ; it is from seven to nine-tenths of an inch in 



Fig. 62. — Dicerca divaricata, Say. After Division of Entomology, U. S. Depart 

 merit of Agriculture. 



length, copper-colored, with brassy reflections, and thickly cov- 

 ered with little pits. The thorax is furrowed in the middle ; the 

 elytra contain numerous impressed lines, and small, elevated, 

 blackish spots ; the tail-like tips of the elytra are blunt, and spread 

 apart a little like a swallow-tailed coat. Such beetles are found, 

 not very often, however, sunning themselves during June, July 

 and August on the trunks and limbs of old cherry and plum 



