AGRILUS VIRIDIS. 211 



preceding species. It is locally common in many parts of 

 Great Britain. 



Protective rules and remedial measures as for the common 

 cockchafer. 



Family II. — Buprestidae. 

 Descriplion of FamUy. 



Imaiios long and slender, generally with hard elytra which 

 taper posteriorly, as a rule brightly coloured, with a metallic 

 lustre. Antennae short, generally serrate and 11-jointed. 

 Posterior angles of the thorax rounded. Front and middle 

 pairs of coxae globose, the hind pair flattened. Legs short 

 and weak ; tarsi 5-jointed. Abdomen of 

 5 segments, of which the two anterior are 

 fused. The active flight of these insects 

 generally takes place in June and July in 

 hot sunshine. A generation usually lasts 

 two years. 



Larvae cylindrical or flat, white, and 

 without legs ; the first prothoracic segment 

 is broad. They 'live partly between the ° r/nVw, L. 



bast and sapwood of young trees, partly in 

 the stumps, or in old decaying trees. They pupate in situ in 

 a cocoon made of fragments of wood. Flight-holes of the 

 imagos transverse oval, nearly half-elliptic. 



The most injurious species are found on broad-leaved trees, 

 but in Germany a few species attack coniferous wood^. In 

 Great Britain all the species of Buprestidae are scarce, local 

 and therefore unimportant. The following species, though 

 very rare in this country, will serve to illustrate their life- 

 history and economy : — 



1. Agrilus viridis, L. 

 a. Description. 

 Beetle 6 to 8 mm. long, very variable in colour, being some- 

 times olive-green, bluish-green, blue, earth-coloured, etc. ; 

 under surface black. Thorax broader than long ; the last 

 abdominal segment rounded at the extremity ; apices of the 

 elytra diverging slightly from one another, and finely dentate. 



p2 



