186 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



CHAPTER IX. 



WOOD-BORING INSECTS. 



Beetles. — The usual Form of the Wood-borers. — The Scolytus and its Ravages. 

 — Mode of forming the Tunnels. — Curious Instinct. — Theories respecting the Scol- 

 ytus. — Worm-eaten Furniture, its Cause, and the best Method of checking the 

 Boring Insects. — Ginger and Cork Borers. — The "Petrified" Man. — The Meal- 

 worm and its Ravages. — Weevils. — The Palm Weevil of Jamaica. — Its Devel- 

 opment, and Uses as an Edible. — Its Cocoons. — The Wasp Beetle, its Shape, 

 Colors, and tunneling Powers. — The Musk Beetle. — Its Beauty and Fragrance. 

 — Difficulty of detecting the Musk Beetle. — Its Burrows and their Inmates. — 

 The Rhagium and its Cocoon. — The Harlequin Beetle. — Wood-boring Bees. — 

 Willow Bee, its Tunnel, and Mode of making the Cells. — Food of the Young. 

 — The Poppy Bee. — The Pith-boring Bees and their Habits. — Structure of the 

 Cells and Escape of the Young. — Economy of Labor. — Shell-nests of Bees. — 

 Wonderful adaptation to Circumstances. — How the Bee burrows. — The Hoop- 

 shaver Bee. — Gilbert White's Description of its Habits. — The Sirex and its 

 Burrow. — Its Ravages among Fig-trees. — Formidable Aspect of the Insect. — The 

 two British Species. — Carpenter Bee. — Mode of making its Burrow. — Method- 

 ical Labor. — Food of the Young. — How to make a Ceiling. — Number of Cells in 

 each Burrow. — The Carpenter Bee of Australia. — The Pelop^us as a Wood- 

 borer. — Its Tunnel, and Mode of making Cells. — The Saperda. — Damage caused 

 to Aspen and other Trees. — A useful Parasite. — The Goat Moth. — Wood-leopard 

 Moth. — Clear-wings and Honey-comb Moths. 



We now leave the earth-burrowers, and proceed to those in- 

 sects which tunnel into wood and other substances. The Hy- 

 menoptera are again the best burrowers in wood as they are in 

 the earth, but, as some of the beetles are notable wood-borers, 

 and we shall only mention a few of them, we will take them first 

 in order. 



Beetles generally burrow while in their larval state, though 

 there are some that do so when they have attained their perfect 

 form, and are able to bore their way through wood or into the 

 , ground with wonderful ease. All the boring beetles are formed 

 in such a manner that an entomologist can at once detect their 

 habits from their shape. The combination of the cylinder and 

 the sharp-edged screw is well known to be the best form of bor- 

 ing-tool, whether under the name of auger, gimlet, or centre-bit, 

 and it will be found that the harder the substance into which the 

 insect burrows, the more cylindrical is its shape. The dors, 



