AGRILUS VIRIDIS. 211 



preceding species. It is locally common in many parts of 

 Great Britain. , 



Protective rules and remedial measures as for the common 

 cockchafer. 



FAMILY II. BUPRESTIDAE. 

 Description of Family. 



Imagos long and slender, generally with hard elytra which 

 taper posteriorly, as a rule br.ightly coloured, with a metallic 

 lustre. Antennae short, generally serrate and 11-jointed. 

 Posterior angles of the thorax rounded. Front and middle 

 pairs of coxae globose, the hind pair flattened. Legs short 

 and weak ; tarsi 5-jointed. Abdomen of 

 5 segments, of which the two anterior are 

 fused. The active flight of these insects 

 generally takes place in June and July in 

 hot sunshine. A generation usually lasts 

 two years. 



Larvae cylindrical or flat, white, and 

 without legs ; the first prothoracic segment 



. . i mi v AI t, j Fig. W. Agnhts 



is broad. They live partly between the vty,L. 



bast and sapwood of young trees, partly in 

 the stumps, or in old decaying trees. They pupate in situ in 

 a cocoon made of fragments of wood. Flight-holes of the 

 images transverse oval, nearly half-elliptic. 



The most injurious species are found on bipad-leaved trees, 

 but in Germany a few species attack coniferous woods. In 

 Great Britain all the species of Buprestidae are scarce, local 

 and therefore unimportant. The following species, though 

 very rare in this country, will serve to illustrate their life- 

 history and economy : 



1. Agrilus viridis, L. 



a. Description. 



Beetle 6 to 8 mm. long, very variable in colour, being some- 

 times olive-green, bluish-green, blue, earth-coloured, etc. ; 

 under surface black. Thorax broader than long ; the last 

 abdominal segment rounded at the extremity ; apices of the 

 elytra diverging slightly from one another, and finely dentate. 



