popular HDtrtfmtarg of SCmmatrtr 



91 



shows one of the curious Brazilian species; 

 it is named B. penicillata from the pencils of 

 hairs at the tips ou the sides of its elytra. 

 The largest and most brilliant of these beetles 



arc found chiefly in tropical climates. Some 

 of them live for very_ many years in the larva 

 state. A gentleman in the city of London had 

 a desk that had been brought from India, in 

 which was one of the grubs belonging to this 

 species : several years afterwards the perfect 

 insect made its appearance, and thereby put 

 an end to many surmises of the merchant 

 and his clerks as to certain scratchings which 

 they had long heard in silent wonder. 



The Buprestians are hard-shelled beetles, 

 often brilliantly coloured, of an elliptical or 

 oblong-oval form, obtuse before, tapering 

 behind, and broader than thick, so that 

 when cut in two transversely, the section is 

 oval ; the legs are rather short, and the feet 

 are formed for standing firmly, rather than 

 for rapid motion ; the soles being composed 

 of four rather wide joints, covered with little 

 spongy cushions beneath, and terminated by 

 a fifth joint, which is armed with two claws. 

 In the greater number of coleopterous insects 

 the scutel is quite conspicuous, but in the 

 Buprestidse it is generally very small, and 

 sometimes hardly perceptible. These beetles 

 are frequently seen on the trunks and limbs 

 of trees basking in the sun. They walk 

 slowly, and, at the approach of danger, fold 

 up their legs and antenna? and fall to the 

 ground. Being furnished with ample wings, 

 their flight is swift and attended with a 

 whizzing noise. They keep concealed in 

 the night, and are in motion only during the 

 day. 



The larvse are wood-eaters or borers ; and 

 both fruit and forest trees are very subject to 

 their attacks. In the tropical parts of S. Ame- 

 rica the grub of the Buprestis gigas, the per- 

 fect insect of which is figured in next column, 

 must be exceedingly destructive. They are in 

 general of a yellowish white colour, very long, 

 narrow, and depressed in form, but abruptly 

 widened near the anterior extremity : the 

 upper jaws are provided with three teeth, and 

 are of a black colour ; and the antennae are 

 very short. There are no legs, nor any or- 

 gans which can serve as such, except two 

 small warts on the under side of the second 

 segment from the thorax. The motion of the 

 grub appears to be effected by the alternate 

 contractions and elongations of the segments, 

 aided, perhaps, by the tubercular extremity 

 of the body, and by its jaws, with which it 

 takes hold of the sides of its burrow, and 



thus draws itself along. These grubs are 

 found under the bark and in the solid wood 

 of trees, and sometimes in great numbers. 

 They frequently rest with the body bent 

 sideways, so that the head and tail approach 

 each other ; those found under bark usually 

 assuming this posture. The pupa bears a 

 near resemblance to the perfect insect, but is 

 entirely white, until near the time of its last 

 transformation. Its situation is immedi- 

 ately under the bark, the head being directed 

 outwards, so that when the pupa-coat is cast 

 off, the beetle has merely a thin covering of 

 bark to perforate before making its escai>e 

 from the tree. The form of this perforation 

 is oval, as is also a transverse section of the 

 burrow, that shape being best adapted to the 

 form, motion, and egress of the insect. 



Some of these beetles are known to eat 

 leaves and flowers, and of tliis nature is pro- 

 bably the food of all of them. The injury 

 they may thus commit is not very apparent, 

 and cannot bear any comparison with the 

 extensive ravages of their larvae. The solid 

 trunks and limbs of sound and vigorous 

 trees are often bored through in various 

 directions by these insects, which, during a 

 long-continued life, derive their only nou- 

 rishment from the woody fragments they 

 devour. Pines and firs seem particularly 

 subject to their attacks ; but other forest- 

 trees do not escape, and even fruit trees are 

 frequently injured by them. We may here 

 remark, that woodpeckers are much more 

 successful in discovering the retreats of these 

 borers, and in dragging out the defenceless 

 culprits from their burrows, than the most 

 skilful gardener or nurseryman. 



The wild cherry-tree \Prunw serotina), 

 and also the garden cherry and peach trees, 

 suffer severely from the attacks of borers, 

 which are transformed to the beetles called 

 Buprestis divaricata, because the wing-covers 

 divaricate or spread apart a little at the tips. 

 These beetles are copper-coloured, some- 

 times brassy above, and thickly covered with 

 little punctures ; the thorax is slightly fur- 

 rowed in the middle ; the wing-covers are 

 marked with numerous fine irregular im- 

 pressed lines and small oblong square ele- 

 vated black spots ; they taper very much 

 behind, and the long and narrow tips are 

 blunt-pointed : the middle of the breast is 



