THE BANKSIA BORER. 67 



CHAPTER L. 



THE BANKSIA BORER. 



(^Cyria i?nperialis, Donov.) 



Order : Coleoptera. Family : Biiprestidce. 



This fine, but very destructive, beetle is chiefly to be 

 found on and in the vicinity of our sea shores, the eggs 

 being deposited by the female in the wood of the Banksia 

 integrifolia or native honeysuckle, which trees form a 

 broad belt of shelter along our coast lines. When hatched, 

 the larvas (see Fig. I.) commence to feed upon the wood 

 of the tree, and tunnel into the tree (see Fig. I.), often 

 destroying it altogether. The male (see Fig. IV.) is 

 smaller than the female, but with the same bright, glossy, 

 yellow;and black colour, which renders this beetle very 

 conspicuous, even at som.e distance. The female (see 

 Figs. II. and III.) are, as a rule, rather more sluggish in 

 their movements than are the males, both sexes being 

 very wary, and take to flight quickly. The perfect beetle 

 when emerging from the wood (see Fig. I.) is somewhat 

 soft in texture, but a very slight exposure to the warm 

 sunlight hardens the wing-cases and other parts of the 

 insect, so that in a very short time they are able to fly with 

 tolerable ease. In tunnelling the tree, the larvse, which, 

 together with the perfect insects are here given in their 

 natural sizes, frequently bore down to a distance of from 

 8 to 10 inches below the surface of the soil, one having 

 been found by the writer in the tap-root of a Banksia of 

 small size. The larvis of Buprestis beetles are most 

 singular in appearance, the head part being wider and 

 more flattened (see Fig. I.) than is the rest of the body, 

 and tapers down as far as the anal segment as shown in 



