BEETLE. 



BEETLE. 



"The largest of these beetles in the New 

 England States, was first described by Lin- 

 naeus under the name of Lucanus capreolus, 

 signifying the young roe-buck ; but here it is 

 called the horn-bug. Its colour is a deep ma- 

 hogany-brown ; the surface is smooth and po- 

 lished; the upper jaws of the male are long, 

 curved like a sickle, and furnished internally 

 beyond the middle with a little tooth ; those of 

 the female are much shorter, and also toothed; 

 the head of the male is broad and smooth, that 

 of the other sex narrower and rough with 

 punctures. The body of this beetle measures 

 from one inch to an inch and a quarter, ex- 

 clusive of the jaws. The time of its appear- 

 ance is in July and the beginning of August. 

 The grubs live in the trunks and roots of va- 

 rious kinds of trees, but particularly in those 

 of old apple-trees, willows, and oaks. 



"Several other and smaller kinds of stag- 

 beetles are found in New England, but their 

 habits are much the same as those of the more 

 common horn-bug." 



Another great tribe of beetles is described 

 by naturalists under the name of serricvrn, or 

 saw-horned beetles, because the tips of the 

 joints of their antennae usually project more 

 or less on the inside, somewhat like the teeth 

 of a saw. The beetles belonging to the family 

 of Buprestians have antennae of this kind. The 

 popular name for these in England is burn- 

 cow, a very inappropriate appellation for a 

 perfectly harmless insect. The French call 

 them richards, on account of the rich and bril- 

 liant colours wherewith many of them are 

 adorned. These beetles are frequently seen 

 en the trunks and limbs of trees, basking in 

 the sun. They walk slowly, and at the ap- 

 proach of danger, fold up their legs and anten- 

 nas and fall to the ground. Their flight is swift, 

 and attended with a whizzing noise. They 

 keep concealed in the night, and are in motion 

 only during the day. (Harris.) 



The larvae of these saw-horned beetles, are 

 wood-eaters or borers, and orchards and forest 

 trees are more or less subject to their attacks, 

 especially after trees have passed the prime of 

 life. The transformations of these insects 

 take place in the trunks and limbs of trees. 

 The larvae that are known have a close resem- 

 blance to each other; a general idea of them 

 can be formed from a description of that which 

 attacks the pig-nut hickory. 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 side-wise, so 

 that the head and tail approach each other. 

 They appear to pass several years in this lar- 

 vae state, before they cast off the pupa-coat 

 and cut out through the bark in the form of a 

 beetle. 



"Some of these beetles are known to eat 

 leaves and flowers, and of this nature is pro- 

 bably the food of all of them. The injury they 

 may thus commit is not very apparent, and can- 

 not bear any comparison with the extensive 

 railages of their larvce. The solid trunks 

 and limbs of sound and vigorous trees are 

 often bored through in various directions 

 by these insects, which, during a long-con- 

 tinued life, derive their only nourishment from 

 174 



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 tlie.se 

 borers. The means to be used for destroying 

 them are similar to those employed against 

 other borers, and will be explained in a subse- 

 quent part of this essay. It may not be amiss, 

 however, here to remark, that wood-peckers are 

 much more successful in discovering the re- 

 treats of these borers, and in dragging out the 

 defenceless culprits from their burrows, than 

 the most skilful gardener or nurseryman. 



" Until within a few years the Buprestians 

 were all included in three or four genera. A 

 great number of kinds have now become 

 known, probably six hundred or more." 



The largest of these beetles known to Dr. 

 Harris, is called the Virginian Bupestris, or 

 saw-horn beetle. It is of an oblong shape, 

 brassy, or copper-coloured ; sometimes almost 

 black, with hardly any metallic reflections. On 

 each wing-cover are two small square im- 

 pressed spots. It measures eight-tenths of an 

 inch to one inch or more in length. This beetle 

 appears in Massachusetts towards the end of 

 May, and through the month of June, on pine 

 trees and on fences. In the larvae state, it 

 bores into the trunks of the different kinds of 

 pines, and is often times very injurious to these 

 trees. (Harris.) 



The wild-cherry tree (Prunus serotina) and 

 also the garden cherry and peach trees, suffer 

 severely from the attacks of borers, which are 

 transformed to beetles 'called Buprestis divari- 

 cata, from the wing-covers parting a little at the 

 tips. These beetles are copper-coloured, some- 

 times brassy above, and thickly covered with 

 little punctures. They measure from seven to 

 nine-tenths of an inch. 



Other species of American wood-eaters or 

 borers are described by Dr. Harris, among 

 which are those attacking the hickory, oak, 

 and white pine. When trees are found to be 

 very much infested by borers, and are going 

 to decay in consequence of their ravages, it 

 will be better to cut them down and burn them 

 immediately, rather than to suffer them to stand 

 until the borers have completed their transfor- 

 mations and made their escape. (Harris.) 



The family of Spring-beetles, or Elaters, are 

 closely related to the Buprestians. They derive 

 their name from the well known faculty of 

 throwing themselves up with a jerk when laid 

 on their backs, the legs being too short to ena- 

 ble them to turn over by their assistance. 



" The larvae or grubs of the Elaters," says Dr. 

 Harris, "live upon wood and roots, and are often 

 very injurious to vegetation. Some are confined 

 to old or decaying trees, others devour the roots 

 of herbaceous plants. In England they are 

 called wire-worms from their slenderness and 

 uncommon hardness. They are not to be con- 

 founded with the American wire-worm, a spe- 

 cies of lulus, which is not a true insect, but be- 

 longs to the class Myriapoda, a name derived 

 from the great number of feet with which most 

 of the animals included in it are furnished ; 

 whereas the English wire-worm has only six 

 feet. The European wire-worm is said to live, 

 in its feeding or larva state, not less than five 



