252 Rc"-'. Air. KirbyV Ohfervations upon Infetis ihat prey upon Ttinber, 



appearance. This advice was purfucd, and the dock-yard timber 

 received no further injury. 



\Vc have fo few fpecies of the genus Buprejih in England, and 

 thofe that we have are fo feldom met with, that it is no wonder if 

 the habitation of their larvi-e is not commonly known ; both De 

 Cieer (rt), and GeoiTroy (3), however, are of opinion that they are in- 

 habitants of wood. But the timber-merchant and the builder have 

 no greater enemies than the genuine Ceramhyces, under which genus I 

 would, with Dc Gcer (c), include thoi'e only which have reniform or 

 lunar eyes, excluding C. Cuijor, Lamed, merldianus, Inquijilor, &c. and 

 taking in Leptura Aim, arcuata^ arietis, myjl'ica, praujia, &c. of Linn. 

 Thefe infe£ls, as far at leaft as we are acquainted with them, not 

 only devour the furface of the wood that lies under the bark, but 

 penetrate deep and in all dire6lions into the folid timber. What 

 havock mufl the larva of fo large an infeft as Cerambyx coriarius 

 make in an oak tree (^) ! I have taken the pupa of Qr^w^l'.v ar- 

 cuatus out of the heart of a folid piece of the fame timber, which 

 had been perforated by that infedl in all dircftions. Once in the 

 height of fummer, when the mid-day fun fhone out warm, I was 

 very much entertained with feeing feveral of thefe fine infe6ls fly 

 down upon a pollard oak that had been felled and the bark left 

 upon it, and run all over it with great velocity, feeking, it is probable,, 

 a place proper for depofiting their eggs. 



Amongft the Cerambyces of this country, the ingenious Mr. Dono- 

 van, in his elegant work upon BritilTi Infe£ts {e), has figured C. vio"- 



((j) Dc Geer, Tom. iv. p. 131. 



(i) Gcoffr. Tom. i. Cucujus. n. i. p. 125. n. 2. p. 126. 



(f) De Geer, Tom. v. p. 55, 56. 



(J) Habitat in betulis putridis. Linn. Syjl. Nat. But I have known it Cut out of an oak. 



(<■) Doiisv. Brit. Inf. Vol. ii. p. 73. Tab. 61. fig. I. 



8 liiceusy. 



