572 



THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



row a short distance, and builds a plug of chips below it. 

 The autumn winds break the branch from the tree. The 

 larva remains in its burrow through the winter, and under- 

 goes its transformations in the spring. No one has ex- 

 plained its object in severing the branch. The adult is a 

 plain, brownish-gray beetle. Whenever it becomes abun- 

 dant its increase can be checked by gathering the fallen 

 branches in the autumn and burning them before the beetles 

 have escaped. 



Subfamily LAMIIN^E (Lam-i-i'nae). 

 The Lamiids {Lam' i-ids). 



As in the preceding subfamily, the prothorax is rounded 

 with these beetles; but the Lamiids are distinguished by 

 having the fore tibiae obliquely grooved on the inner side, 

 and the last segment of the palpi cylindrical and pointed. 

 The following are some of the more important species: — 



The Sawyer, Monohammus confasor (Mon-o-ham'mus 

 con-fu'sor). — This beautiful brown and gray beetle is about 

 an inch and a quarter long, with antennae as long as the 

 body in the case of the female and twice as long in 

 the case of the male (Fig. 696). The larva bores in 



the sound wood of 

 pine and of fir, mak- 

 ing a hole, when 

 full grown, one half 

 inch in diameter. 

 The pupa state is 

 passed within the 

 burrow. It some- 

 times occurs in such 

 numbers as to kill 

 the infested trees. 

 The Round- 

 Fig. 696. headed Apple-tree 



