BEETLES. 329 



antenna'; the stridulating plate on the iiiesonotuni is divicleil by a smooth iiortioii 

 or by a furrow. These insects frecjuent fiowors, seeniino- to prefer small flowers whidi 

 grow in clusters, such as those of Spinca. 



According to Le Conte and Horn's Classification of the Coleoptera of North 

 America, from which work many of the anatomical characters of genera mentioned in 

 this pajier have been taken, the gcuus Lcjifiint itself has acute mandibles fringed on 

 the inner margin, long elytra, oblinue or horizontal front, first joint of hind tarsi 

 without brush-like sole, last \cutral segment of the male not excavated, antennie with- 

 out poriferous spaces, and hind coxa3 not contiguous. There are over seventy-five 

 species of Leptura in North America, north of Mexico. 'J'heir larva- feed upon 

 decaj'ing wood. L. caiKidensU is dull brownish black with the .anterior part of the 

 elytra dull red, and the antenna' yellow and Iilack. It is .■il)out 0.(j of an inch long. 



Tiipocerus differs from Lepttuui in having large poriferous sjiaces on the antenn;c. 

 T.fuga.i-^ a common species in the United States, lias reddish brown elytra, each of 

 whicli has four more or less ]>rominent triangular yellow spots. The prothorax and 

 body beneath are neai-ly Iilack, densely clothed with yellow pubescence; the antenna' 

 are dull black, the legs reddish brown. Length about 0.5 of an inch. 



lihaijiiun has the first joint of the posterior tarsi hairy beneath, and the prosternum 

 prominent between the cnxa'. 7?. Uiteatinii,X\w only North American species, is from 

 0.4 to 0.7 of an inch long, and is rusty gray, finely mottled with black. Each elytron 

 has three slightly elevated longituilinal ridges, whence the name lineatuin. The larva 

 of R. Uneatum is a flattened, yellowish-white, somewhat hairy grub, about an inch 

 long. Its head is as large and as wide as its prothoracic segment ; the mesothoraeic 

 and metathoracic segments equal in width the prothoracic segment, l)ut are slightly 

 wider than the abdnminal segments. Tiiis larva is very common under the bark of 

 pine logs, where it burrows abi.nit, and finally constructs a nest or cell in which to 

 pup.ate. These cells, in which pujiation takes place, are liuilt of woody threads or 

 fibres arranged in an oval ring between the wood anil the loosened bark; the cell, 

 which is usually a little over an inch in longest diameter, is lined with reddish bark- 

 dust. The beetle emerges from the pupal state in auluuni. but i-emains in its cell 

 until the following s]iring, when it gnaws its way out ; this is a somewhat exce|itional 

 mode of hibernation for Cerambycida^, most of which spend the winter as larv;e. 

 R. ))U)r<J<i.i\ in Eurojie, co]iul:iti- in April .and ;\Iay ; the ego-s are deposited in clefts of 

 bark, the larva' reaching full growth and ]iu]iating the same year. Some of the 

 European sjjecies of Rhagiinti attack, besides pine, the bark of birch arid oak ; R. 

 Uneatum thus far has been recorded only from conifers — from pine, spruce, fir, and 

 hemlock. Remaining torjiid as these beetles do throughout the winter, in their cells 

 beneath the bark, they are particularly susceptible to the attacks of parasites: fungi 

 kill a large number of them ; others succumb to the attacks of mites ( Gariuts)/.-. 

 cofeoptratorum), and specimens are not rarely found which are clothed with these 

 ))arasites so as to hide the beetle entirely from view; and three species of Ichneu- 

 monidie and one of Braconida; are known to attack R. iiidiffator, of Europe, a rather 

 large number of hymenopterous jiarasites for a single species of beetle. 



The genus Neci/dnlis is characterized sutHciently by its very short elytra, fnmi 

 beneath which the long wings always project, never being folded beneath the elytra, 

 as is the case in the Stajihylinidte, and in a few other genera of brachelytrous longi- 

 corns. Only three species are- found in the United States, and their life history is not 

 known, y. major, the sjiecies figured, is European. 



