18 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FOREST AND SHADE TREES. 
segments by very fine transverse impressed lines or sutures. They are about one-tenth 
of an inch long and 0.035 broad at the widest part. These are evidently the larve 
of some small Hymenopterous or bee-like insect, pertaining, there can be little doubt, 
to the family Chalcidide, the female of which has the instinet to discover these 
borers, probably in the earlier periods of their life when they are lying directly be- 
neath the bark, and piercing through the bark with her ovipositor, and puncturing 
the skin of the borer, drops her eggs therein, which subsequently hatch and subsist 
upon the borer, eventually destroying it. These minute larvie were forwarded to me 
under the supposition that they were injurious to the apple tree, whereas, by destroy- 
ing these pernicious borers, it is evident they must be regarded as our best friends. 
This fact illustrates how important it is for us to be acquainted with our insets in the 
different stages of their lives, that we may be able to discriminate friends from foes, 
and know which to destroy and which to cherish. 
The larva.—The form of this borer is quite singular, and bears some resemblance to 
that of a tadpole or a battledoor. It consists of a very large, round, flattened portion, 
anteriorly, which is suddenly tapered into a long cylindrical tail or handle-like por- 
tion. The broad anterior part of this worm is about two-tenths of an inch in diam- 
eter and the narrow posterior part is but half as wide. Its length is about 0.65. It 
is soft, flesh-like, and of a pale-yellow color. In front two short robust jaws of a deep 
black color and highly polished are slightly protruded. When these are spread apart 
the tips of the feelers and between them the lips are perceptible. The head is black- 
ish-brown and polished, and is deeply sunk into the second segment. Near each outer 
angle of the head is a small, pale-yellow, bead-like protuberance, which is probably 
the antenna. In Dr. Ratzeburg’s figure, above alluded to, this slight protuberance is 
represented, probably incorrectly, as arising from the second segment. The second 
segment is deeply sunk into the third, and like all the remaining segments is pale- 
yellow and clothed with short minute hairs. The third or large segment is rather 
more broad than long, and is round and flattened above and beneath. Its upper side 
is occupied by a large, callous-like, transverse-oval elevation, the surface of which is 
flat and covered with numerous brown raised points, and in the middle are two smooth 
impressed lines, which diverge from the anterior to the posterior margin. Between 
these, on the middle of the basal edge, is a more faintly-impressed line, running for- 
ward, but becoming effaced before it reaches the center. On the under side is also a 
callous-like elevation, similar in all respects to that on the upper side, except that in 
place of the impressed lines it has in its middle a single channel or furrow, which does 
not extend to the posterior nor quite to the anterior margin. The fourth segment is a 
third narrower than the preceding, and has an impressed transverse line in its middle. 
In the deeply-impressed suture which divides this from the third segment, on each 
side is a smooth, crescent-shaped, elevated spot of a chestnut-brown color, resembling 
a little tick adhering in the fold of the skin. The nine remaining segments are of 
nearly equal length and diameter, except the two last, which are successively nar- 
rower. They are separated from each other by suturés which are strongly constricted. 
Along the middle of the back is a smoothish faintly-marked line, and on each side of 
each segment is an irregular triangular indentation, from the inner angle of which a 
faint impressed line extends inwards. On each side, beneath, is an impressed, longi- 
tudinal line. There are no conical projecting points at the apex of the last segment. 
These borers, sent to me as above stated, have not yet completed their transforma- 
tions; but they will in all probability remain in their present cells in the wood and 
be changed to pup:ze the coming spring, from which the perfect insects will issue the 
latter part of May and during the month of June. And there can be little doubt that 
they will prove to be the species named by Fabricius Buprestis femorata, which species 
pertains to the modern genus Chrysobothris. This insect may be met with in all parts 
of our country. The natural place for its larva is in the white oak, and it is probable 
that, being deprived of a sufficient supply of this wood in which to deposit its eggs, 
in consequence of our forests being so rapidly and extensively cut down, this insect 
