June, 1918.] NiCOLAY & WeiSS : BuPRESTIS IN NORTH AMERICA. 79 



and more or less retracted into the first segment. Antenn:ie medium 

 sized, three-jointed; ocelli lacking; labrum large, arched and pro- 

 truded; mandibles short and strong, usually toothed and rather spoon 

 shaped; maxillae well developed; maxillary palpi two jointed; labium 

 well developed arched, protruded; labial palpi minute and unseg- 

 niented, almost obsolete. First segment with large well developed 

 plate on both ventral and dorsal surfaces; legs absent, ambulatory 

 tubercles sometimes present ; cerci absent ; spiracles crescentic, one 

 large one on either side of the second segment and cnc sma'l one 

 on either side of each of the fourth to eleventh segments on the 

 anterior dorso-lateral surface. 



The possession of a well developed ambulatory plate on both dorsal 

 and ventral surfaces of the first segment behind the head is the prin- 

 cipal distinguishing character of the buprestid larva. Both plates are 

 alike and the dorsal plate has a central line groove or V. Burke 

 states that similar plates occur on some eucnemid larvae but that the 

 markings on the dorsal plate consist of two lateral lines; that cer- 

 ambycid larvae never have the ventral plate as well developed or 

 similar to the dorsal one and that cucujid larvre are very flat and 

 possess well-developed legs. In Burke's table for separating the 

 genera, the following larval characters of the genus Buprcstis are 

 given. Larva somewhat flattened, club-like in form; first segment 

 distinctly larger and broader than following segment ; last segment 

 without a distinct chitinous fork ; plates of first segment with dis- 

 tinct chitinous rugosities; rugosities of first segment pointlike; plates 

 with indefinite margins, markings light, appearing more as grooves 

 than as definite lines; dorsal plate marked by a short trunked inverted 

 Y or U. the apex and trunk of which are often faint, rugose area 

 forming more or less of a hood around the Y ; ventral plate marked 

 with a median groove that extends from the posterior margin of the 

 plate two-thirds or three-fourths of the distance to the anterior 

 margin, not bisecting the plate. Burke also states that the larval 

 characters strongly indicate that the genus Buprestis should be split 

 into three genera. 



The family Buprestidre is represented in our fauna by eight tribes 

 — Polyccsfiui. Scliiaopiiii, Thniicopygiiii. CJialcophorini, Chrysoboth- 

 riiii, Biiprcstiiii, Agrilini and Mastogcnini. The tribe Buprcstini con- 

 tains those forms having the hind cox?e with plates distinctly dilated 



