BUPRESTTDJi 181 



been plowed from grass. Many of the speeies have never 

 been traced through in detail, but those that have been traced 

 show them to be grass-feeding species, and the eggs are 

 deposited on grass lands. There are some species whose 

 larvae occur in rotten wood and a few have a phosphorescent 

 property. These are not of economic importance. 



Buprestidse. — The Buprestidcp have larvje that are wood- 

 boring in liabit and on account of their shape — the very 

 broad anterior segment of the body — are called the flat- 

 head borers. Destructive species occur in maple, apple, 

 hickory, and a considerable number of common trees. The 

 best-known is the flat-headed apple-tree borer {Chrysobo- 

 thris femorata), which affects apple and also maple, and 

 perhaps other trees. The adult is a somewhat flattened and 

 elongated oval beetle with rather shallow metallic pits on 

 the wing co\ers. They appear in early smnmer and will be 

 found running about over the bark of the trees where the 

 sun strikes them, and the eggs are depositefl on rough 

 spots of the bark and hatch in a short time. The larvae 

 burrow just beneath the bark and burrow out a shallow cavity, 

 limiting themselves to the cambium at least in the earlier 

 part of their li\'es. The cavity eaten out may be one-half 

 to three-quarters of an inch wide. The head is small but the 

 first segment of the body is quite large and flat and is per- 

 haps rather naturally taken to be the head by ordinary 

 observers. The remaining segments are slender and nearly 

 cylindrical. It lies in the cavity in a flat position. The 

 burrows never go down into the heart of the tree but they 

 produce dead patches in the growing wood at the surface, 

 and if they are numerous they may form a girdle and cut 

 oft' the sap. The larvae make their growth two or three feet 

 from the ground on apple trees and occur about the lower 

 branches and a few may girdle the tree. The cycle of the 

 species is completed in a year. The larvie burrow during 

 the summer and autumn, are dormant through the cold 

 weather, and pupate in the spring, the adults appearing in 

 the summer. The species is usually restricted pretty closely 

 to one kind of })lant. 



