COLEOPTERA. 91 



will be found upon them, and most often paired. The habits 

 of this insect seem to have been known, as long ago as the 

 year 1771, to Dr. John Reinhold Foster, who then described it 

 imder the name of Leptnra Rohinioe, the latter being derived 

 from the tree which it inhabits. Drury, however, had pre- 

 viously described and figured it, under the specific name here 

 adopted, which, having the priority, in point of time, over all 

 the others that have been subsequently imposed, must be 

 retained. This Capricorn-beetle has the form of the beautiful 

 maple Clytus. It is velvet-black, and ornamented with trans- 

 verse yellow bands, of which there are three on the head, four 

 on the thorax, and six on the wing-covers, the tips of which 

 are also edged with yellow. The first and second bands on 

 each wing-cover are nearly straight ; the third band forms a V, 

 or, united with the opposite one, a W, as in the speciosus; the 

 fourth is also angled, and runs upwards on the inner margin of 

 the wing-cover towards the scutel; the fifth is broken or inter- 

 rupted by a longitudinal elevated line; and the sixth is arched, 

 and consists of three little spots. The antennae are dark brown ; 

 and the legs are rust-red. These insects vary from six tenths 

 to three quarters of an inch in length. 



In the month of September these beetles gather on the 

 locust-trees, where they may be seen glittering in the sunbeams 

 with their gorgeous livery of black velvet and gold, coursing 

 up and down the trunks in pursuit of their mates, or to drive 

 away their rivals, and stopping every now and then to salute 

 those they meet with a rapid bowing of the shoulders, accom- 

 panied by a creaking sound, indicative of recognition or defi- 

 ance. Having paired, the female, attended by her partner, 

 creeps over the bark, searching the crevices with her antenna?, 

 and dropping therein her snow-white eggs, in clusters of seven 

 or eight together, and at intervals of five or six minutes, till 

 her whole stock is safely stored. The eggs are soon hatched, 

 and the grubs immediately burrow into the bark, devouring 

 the soft inner substance that suffices for their nourishment till 

 the approach of Avinter, during which they remain at rest in a 

 torpid state. In the spring they bore through the sap-wood, 

 more or less deeply into the trunk, the general course of their 



