tvith ajhort Hijlory of the Cerambyx v'lolacetts of Limalis. 255 



but in a ferpentine dire<flion, filling the fpace which it leaves behind 

 it with its excrement, refcmbling faw-duft, and To (lopping nil in- 

 grefs to enemies from without ; but when it has arrived at its ut- 

 moft dimenfions, it does not confine itfclf to one direclion, but 

 works in a kind of labyrinth, eating backwards and forwards, 

 which gives the wood under the bark a very irregular furface {a); 

 by this mean its paths are of confiderable width. Its attacks are 

 not confined to the folid timber, but in its progrefs it eats away 

 an equal portion of the bark. The bed of thofe paths where it has 

 been at work, exhibits, when clofely examined, a curious appearance, 

 occafioned by the erofions of its maxilla:, which excavate an infi- 

 nity of little ramified channels. When the infecl is about to 

 aflTume the pupa, it bores down obliquely into the folid wood, to the 

 depth fometimes of three inches, feldom if ever lefs than two. 

 Thefe holes (^) are nearly femicyhndrical, exprefling exa6lly the 

 form of the grub. One would wonder how fo fmall and feemingly 

 fo weak an animal could have ftrength to excavate fo deep a mine : 

 but when we fee its maxillx, our wonder ceafes; thefe are large, 

 thick, and folid feilions of a cone divided longitudinally (r), which 

 in the acl of maftication apply to each other the whole of their 

 interior plane furface, fo that they grind the food of the infect like 

 a pair of millftones. Early in March all the larva, except fome 

 fickiy ones, were obferved to have entered the wood in this manner ; 

 fome began lo loon as October. At the place in the bark oppofite 

 to this hole, the imago gmws its way out of its prifon w^hen it makes 

 its appearance, which took place finl on the 20th of May, and 

 contmued till about the 20th of June ; it returns by the fame paf- 

 fage which the larvah^d excavated previous to afluming xh^ pupcu 



(«) Tab. 12. fig. 14. (.{) Fig. 14, aa a. (<) Fig. 5. bb. Fi^. 7. b. 



Ml". 



