58 COLEOPTERA. 



These destructive insects belong to a family called LY- 

 MEXYLID^;, which may be rendered timber-beetles. They 

 cannot be far removed from the Buprestians and the spring- 

 beetles in a natural arrangement. From the latter, however, 

 the insects of this small group are distinguished by having 

 the head broad before, narrowed behind, and not sunk into 

 the thorax ; they have not the breast-spine of the Elaters, 

 and their legs are close together, and not separated from 

 each other by a broad breast-bone as in the Buprestians ; 

 and the hip-joints are long, and not sunk into the breast. 

 In the principal insects of this family the antennae are short, 

 and, from the third joint, flattened, widened, and saw-toothed 

 on the inside ; and the jaw-feelers of the males have a singu- 

 lar fringed piece attached to them. The body is long, nar- 

 row, nearly cylindrical, and not so firm and hard as in the 

 Elaters. The feet are five-jointed, long, and slender. 



The larvae of Lymexylon and Hylecoetw are very odd- 

 looking, long, and slender grubs. The head is small ; the 

 first ring is very much hunched ; and on the top of the last 

 ring there is a fleshy appendage, resembling a leaf in Ly- 

 mexylon, and like a straight horn in Hyleccetus. They have 

 six short legs near the head. These grubs inhabit oak-trees, 

 and make long cylindrical burrows in the solid wood. They 

 are also found in some other kinds of trees. 



Only a few native insects of this family are known to me, 

 and these fortunately seem to be rare in New 



Fig. 30. ' 



England. I shall describe only two of them. 

 The first was obtained by beating the limbs of 

 some forest-tree. It may be called Lymexylon 

 sericeum (Fig. 30), the silky timber-beetle. It 

 is of a chestnut-brown color above, and covered 

 with very short shining yellowish hairs, which 

 give it a silky lustre. The head is bowed down beneath 

 the fore part of the thorax ; the eyes are very large, and 

 almost meet above and below ; the antennae are brownish 

 red, widened and compressed from the fourth to the last 



