FAMILY BUPRESTIDAE igi 



cover the abdomen or leave exposed the pygidium ; the lateral apical 

 edges are often toothed, at times to as much as half the total length 

 of the elytra, or the apices are merely spined. The lower wings are 

 wide, longitudinally folded at the base and transversely at the summit. 

 The prosternum is rigid and prolonged behind, fitting into the mesoster- 

 num or even the metasternum. The legs are relatively short, the tibiae 

 usually slender with two small terminal spurs ; the tarsi are five-jointed, 

 the first four joints with more or less developed membranous appendages 

 beneath ; claws unarmed. 



The beetles, when they feed at all, usually eat the parenchyma of leaves, 

 or strip the young green bark off shoots and young branches. They fly 

 during the day, and may be seen sitting on leaf or stem in the hottest sun. 

 When at rest the beetles are not so easy to see, since mimicry and pro- 

 tective resemblance are common in the family, the coloration of the insects 

 often resembling that of the flower, leaf, or twig to which they are clinging. 

 They also often sham death, and are aided in this by being able to hide 

 away legs and antennae in cavities. 



The larva (fig. 30, c) is white or yellow r ish-white in colour, legless, with a 



black or brown horny head, and a yellow or orange 



Larva. prothorax which has a characteristic and remarkable 



shape. The head is very small, and is almost entirely 



withdrawn into the broad prothorax, this latter being often flat or circular, 



and very much larger than the segments which follow it, usually having a 



hard plate on the dorsal surface ; the segments following the prothorax are 



generally narrow and slender, some of the posterior ones being doubled back 



on the others when the grub is feeding in its burrow (cf. pi. xiii). This 



disparity in size between the prothorax and following segments serves to 



distinguish easily this grub from that of the Cerambycidae, in which the 



body segments more nearly approximate in width to that of the prothorux. 



The grubs of the forest species known feed in the bast la\ <T and sap- 

 wood of trees, eating out winding, shallow, broad tunnels, which are packed 

 with their excreta and wood-refuse. When full-fed they penetrate a short 

 distance into the sapwood, and eat out a pupal chamber there. The hirxal 

 life may last for a few weeks only, or may extend to nearly a yeai . 



The buprestid pupa (fig. 31, 6) presents few differences in appearance from 



that of the ordinary coleopterous nymph. It is white or 



Pupa. yellow in colour, flat and often rather squarish in shape. 



the anterior wing-cases and le.^s pressed to sides and 



breast. The pupa spends a few weeks only in this stage of its existence, in I In- 

 case of the smaller species the period beini; perhaps I mm ten days to a 

 fortnight. The beetle, however, rests for a varying period in the pupal 

 chamber before it leaves the tree. 



Damage done by the Family. Observations at present point to the fact that 



