THE PAINTED CLYTUS. 103 



pollen, which they devour. Duiing the month of Septem- 

 ber, the pamted Clytus, Cl//tus pietus* (yiiite II. Fig. 10,) is 

 often seen in abmidance, feeding by day upon the blossoms 

 of the golden-rod. If the trunks of our common locust-tree, 

 Rohinia pseudacacia, are examined at tliis time, a still greater 

 number of these beetles 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 under the name of Leptura 

 liobinice, the latter being derived from the tree which it 

 inhabits. Drury, however, had previously 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 Avith transverse 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 opj^osite one, a W, as in the speciosns ; 

 the fourth is also angled, and runs upwards on tlie inner 

 margin of the wing-cover towards the scutel ; the fifth is 

 broken or interrupted by a longitudinal elevated line ; and 

 the sixth is arched, and consists of three little spots. The 

 antenna3 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 sun- 

 beams 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, accomj)anied by a creaking sound, indicative of 



* Lcpliirajncta, Drury; Clijitisjhxitosus, Fabricius. 



