U7i Insect of the Genus Buprestis. 401 



same insect; but in this I cannot agree with him, as neitkcr de- 

 scription nor figure accords witli B. sp'lcnden.s. y , 



'J'he annexed figures, 'I'au. XXXll. Jig. I. and 2. represent ou^ 

 insect in its perfect state. Fig. 3. is a reduced drawing of the 

 piece of wood, with the excavation from which the insect issued : 

 the dark spotted parts are exact representations of the wood, as 

 it appeared when first in our possession : the lighter shades mark 

 the appearance after a thin shaving had been taken off by a 

 plane : proceeding further with the same instrument, the opening 

 extended to the dotted lines ; and the outer lines show the full 

 breadth of the excavation, as made by the insect, when it was 

 planed down to half its deptl). The total length of the channel 

 could not be ascertained, as it is evident the whole width of the 

 plank was not sent. Fig 4. represents a section of the entrance 

 of the full size. 



It is a subject of curious inquiry to know in what state the 

 insect remained for such a term of years in this wood, whether 

 as a larva, a pupa, or as a perfectly formed animal, or what 

 length of time in each state. Some insects remain a consider- 

 able time in the larva state, as the Wire- Worm, which is said to 

 be five years before its change inio pupa. Others again remain 

 two or three years as pupa, and many coleopterous insects will 

 live a considerable time in their last or perfect state. The pre- 

 sent discovery, however, establishes one fact, which has hitherto 

 appeared doubtful, viz. where the larvae of Buprestis inhabit, 

 and on what substance they feed. The celebrated Baron De 

 Geer, and after him Olivier, suspected that they lived in dry 

 wood, because the first had discovered a dead specimen of Bu- 

 prestis rustica in a beam of a house, and the latter B, Mariana 

 upon the trunks of worm-eaten pine-trees, and in the timber- 

 yard 



