COLEOrTERA. 75 



of bees and flies, drawn thither by the fragrance of the bursting 

 buds and the tender foliage, and the very ground beneath our 

 feet seems teeming with insect life, swarms of little beetles of 

 various jcinds come forth to tiy their wings, and, with an un- 

 certain and heavy flight, launch into the air. Among these 

 beetles there are many of a dull red or fox color, nearly cylin- 

 drical in form, tapering a very little before, obtusely rounded 

 at both extremities, and about one quarter of an inch in length. 

 They are seen slowly creeping upon the sides of wooden build- 

 ings, resting on the tops of fences, or wheeling about in the 

 air, and every now and then suddenly alighting on some tree 

 or wall, or dropping to the ground. If we go to an old pine- 

 tree we may discover from whence they have come, and what 

 they have been about during the past period of their lives. 

 Here they will be found creeping out of thousands of small 

 round holes which they have made through the bark for then- 

 escape. Upon raising a piece of the bark, already loosened 

 by the undermining of these insects, we find it pierced with 

 holes in every direction, and even the surface of the wood will 

 be seen to have been gnawed by these little miners. After 

 enjoying themselves abroad for a few days, they pair, and 

 begin to lay their eggs. The pitch-pine is most generally 

 chosen by them for this purpose, but they also attack other 

 kinds of pines. They gnaw little holes here and there through 

 the rough bark of the trunk and limbs, drop their eggs therein, 

 and, after this labor is finished, they become exhausted and 

 die. In the autumn the grubs hatched from these eggs will 

 be found fully grown. They have a short, thick, nearly cylin- 

 drical body, wrinkled on the back, are somewhat curved, and 

 of a yellowish white color, with a horny darker colored head, 

 and are destitute of feet. They devour the soft inner substance 

 of the bark, boring through it in various directions for this 

 purpose, and, when they have come to their full size, they 

 gnaw a passage to the surface for their escape after they have 

 completed their transformations. These take place deep in 

 their burrows late in the autumn, at which time the insects 

 may be found in various states of maturity, within the bark. 

 Their depredations interrupt the descent of the sap, and pre- 



