ii8 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



The Girdler Beetles (Oncideres) of the same 

 continent achieve the same end by a different 

 method. The mother beetle, having deposited an 

 egg in a small branch, cuts a deep groove, girdle- 

 fashion, around it, so that the flow of sap is stopped 

 and the length of branch snaps in the first wind 

 and falls to the ground. When the wood containing 

 any of these larvae gets worked up by human 

 carpenters into articles of furniture, the drier 

 conditions appear to greatly lengthen the develop- 

 ment of the insect, owing to the wood being less 

 nourishing. Thus Monohammus has been known 

 to issue from furniture that was fifteen years old ; 

 and in another case a longicorn beetle issued under 

 conditions which made it probable that its develop- 

 ment had been spread over forty-five years. The 

 grub of Buprestis splendida is known to have existed 

 in the wood of a table for twenty years. 



The beautiful Musk Beetle (Aromia moschata), one 

 of the finest of our native beetles, spends its larval 

 existence in boring holes deeply into the timber of 

 old willow-trees. The beetle makes its presence 

 known by giving off an odour which closely resembles 

 that of the sweet-briar rose. The deceptively 

 marked Wasp Beetles (Clytus) are also carpenters 

 in their larval days, excavating long tunnels in 

 the thicker branches of trees. We have several 

 times unwittingly reared a half-dozen or more of 

 these beetles from a piece of such a branch only a 

 few inches long, the piece of wood having been 

 brought home because it supported some fungus. 



