DAMAGE CAUSED BY ANIMALS. 197 



brown. The female lays its eggs singly under the cutiqle near 

 the midrib on the lower side on Beech leaves when they flush 

 towards the end of April or the beginning of May ; and when the 

 larvae appear 2 to 3 weeks later, they mine sidewards, or towards 

 the apex of the leaf in the parenchymous layer, the galleries 

 increasing in breadth very much as they approach the edge. The 

 effect thus produced on the damaged beech-leaves makes them 

 look as if they had been nipped by late frost, as, though the 

 injured parts exhibit whitish markings at first, they soon oxidise 

 to a brown colour. The beetles which make their appearance in 

 June feed on the foliage and the nut-cupules until they descend 

 to hibernate under the dead foliage on the ground. 



This insect often occurs in millions in Beech woods, and must, 

 to a certain extent, damage the assimilative power and the 

 increment of trees which are infested by them in large numbers, 

 as often happens on parent standards and near the edges of com- 

 partments. There is no practical preventive or annihilative 

 measure suitable for adoption against this insect, whose attacks 

 are, however, least extensive in mixed woods, where insectivorous 

 birds are always most plentiful. 



96. The Saw-horn Beetles (Buprestidse). 



These are mostly beetles of a bright colour having a metallic 

 lustre, and with compressed bodies and weakly developed legs ; 

 they are only injurious to woodlands during their larval stage. 



The larvae are white, soft, feetless, and elongated, somewhat 

 resembling the cervicorn larvae, but distinguishable from these by 

 reason of the strongly developed first abdominal ring or section, 

 and mostly also by two horny tips on the tail that point outwards 

 or behind. They form irregular, sinuous galleries between the 

 wood and the bark, which gradually become broader as the larva 

 grows larger, and which are tightly packed with the bore-dust. 

 The pupal chamber is hollowed out in the sapwood at the end 

 of the larval gallery. Two years after entering the stem, the 

 beetle emerges through a half-moon-like hole flattened on one 

 side. 



Though, on the whole, not of great Sylvicultural importance, yet 

 a few species often do very considerable damage here and there. 

 The following are the species of most importance : 



