56 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



issuing from them immediately bore holes into the trunks 

 of these trees, making winding passages through them, and 

 feeding exclusively on the wood and pith. These insects 

 continue in the condition of grubs only about a year, they 

 being metamorphosed into perfect Beetles in the following 

 September ; but while in this transition state they are very 

 active, and the destruction of locust-trees by them is very 

 considerable. 



Dr. Harris, of Cambridge, in his Report on the Injurious 

 Insects of Massachusetts, speaks of this Beetle particularly ; 

 and the late Thomas Say, in his American Entomology, 

 Table 53, represents four new species, which he calls Clytus 

 speciosus, C. hcrmatus, C. undulatus, and C. caprea. 



We have now comparatively little to fear from the rav- 

 ages of noxious insects, since our prudent Legislatures have 

 enacted laws for the protection of birds, the great destroy- 

 ers of insects, and it is probably on this account alone that 

 many species of insects injurious to vegetation have almost 

 entirely disappeared. In my travels through several States 

 I have not, for the last two years, met with any of the Rose 

 Bugs (Macrodactylus subspinosus\ so destructive to every 

 flower, nor with any of the Spotted Rutela (Ratela punctata), 

 so injurious to the grape-vine. Even the May Beetles 

 (Meloloutha quercicula) are not seen in such abundance as in 

 previous years, and, should the laws for the protection of 

 birds be much more strenuous, I fear our poor entomologists 

 will be entirely thrown out of employment. It is a matter 

 of congratulation, however, that our favorite birds are so 

 well protected by the laws of some of our States, and by 

 the general consent of the people. They arc more to be 

 admired, even for their beauty, than most of our noxious 

 insects, and certainly reward us by saving our trees and 

 shrubs, and by furnishing us a wholesome and palatable 

 article of food. 



The CLOAK-BEAKING CAPRICORN (Desmocerus palliatus) 



