CH/IX.] COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 143 



Linnaeus, however, states, that its food is the juice 

 which exudes from decayed oaks. Their young 

 burrow in the bark and hollows of trees, and there 

 undergo the usual metamorphoses. 



Its larva, which perfectly resembles that of the 

 Other true beetles, is also found in the hollow of oak 

 trees, residing in the fine vegetable mould usually 

 seen in such cavities, and feeding on the softer 

 parts of the decayed wood. It is of a very consid- 

 erable size, of a pale yellowish or whitish brown 



colour, and when stretched out at full length meas- 

 ures nearly four inches. When arrived at its full 



