38 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



slightly convex; the head is large and broad, especially in the 

 males ; the thorax is short, and as wide as the abdomen ; the 

 antennsB are rather long, elbowed or bent in the middle, and 

 composed of ten joints, the last three or fom* of which are 

 broad, leaf-like, and project on the inside, giving to this part 

 of the antennae a resemblance to the end of a key ; the upper 

 jaws are usually much longer in the males than in the females, 

 but even those of the latter extend considerably beyond the 

 mouth; each of the under jaws is provided with a long hauy 

 pencil or brush, which can be seen projecting beyond the mouth 

 between the feelers ; and the under lip has two shorter pencils 

 of the same kind; the fore legs are oftentimes longer than the 

 others, with the outer edge of the shanks notched into teeth ; 

 the feet are five-jointed, and the nails are entire and equal. 

 These beetles fly abroad during the night, and frequently enter 

 houses at that time, somewhat to the alarm of the occupants; 

 but they are not venomous, and never attempt to bite without 

 provocation. They pass the day on the trunks of trees, and 

 live upon the sap, for procuring which the brushes of their jaws 

 and lip seem to be designed. They are said also occasionally 

 to bite and seize caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects, for 

 the purpose of sucking out their juices. They lay their eggs 

 in crevices of the bark of trees, especially near the roots, where 

 they may sometimes be seen thus employed. The larvas 

 hatched from these eggs resemble the grubs of the Scara- 

 bseians in color and form, but they are smoother, or not so 

 much wrinkled. The grubs of the large kinds are said to be 

 six years in coming to their growth, living all this time in the 

 trunks and roots of trees, boring into the solid wood, and 

 reducing it to a substance resembling very coarse sawdust; 

 and the injury thus caused by them is frequently very consid- 

 erable. When they have arrived at their full size, they enclose 

 themselves in egg-shaped pods, composed of gnawed particles 

 of wood and bark stuck together and lined with a kind of glue ; 

 within these pods they are transformed to pupse, of a yellowish 

 white color, having the body and all the limbs of the future 

 beetle encased in a whitish film, which being thrown ofi" in due 

 time, the insects appear in the beetle form, burst the walls of 



