﻿203 BRITISH BEETLES. 



lobed, generally being divided into tAvo rounded lappets, 

 the (normal) fourth obsolete, hidden in, or soldered, to 

 the centre of the third, and the apical joint long, slender, 

 and strongly clawed. 



They are entirely plant-frequenting insects, existing 

 as larvae and pupse either in solid timber, or on the sur- 

 face of felled logs, etc., beneath the bark ; and, in their 

 perfect state haunting the trunks of trees and bundles of 

 dry twigs, or basking in flowers. ^lany of the gaily- 

 coloured species delight in the hot sunshine, flying 

 readily, and running with great activity up and down 

 the surface of timber ; but some appear to be sluggish 

 in the warmer part of the day, and to fly readily towards 

 evening, often with a humming noise. 



The females are less active than the males, being sel- 

 dom seen on the wing ; they are, also, usually larger and 

 heavier, and have shorter antennse, and a more or less 

 developed ovipositor, partly horny and partly membra- 

 neous, being a continuation of the end of the abdomen, 

 and capable of considerable elongation, somewhat after 

 the fashion of the tubes of a telescope. A^ ith this in- 

 strument, — which can be thrust to some distance from 

 the surface into holes in wood or cracks in bark, to the 

 sinuosities of which its substance readily adapts itself, — 

 eggs are placed in positions where the young larva will 

 be both secure and in the midst of suitable food. 



The larvte, which often grow to a large size, and live 

 for a long time before they assume the pupa state, com- 

 mit much damage to trees; steadily gnawing clean-cut 

 galleries or tubes through solid timber, and filling up 

 their track with their frass of woody fibres. On account 

 of this long duration of their larval condition, and of 

 their habit of boring deeply away from the surface, — 



