THE BUPRESTID^E. 



331 



their habits also they offer little variety ; the perfect insects, in the great majority of cases, frequent 

 the trunks and large branches of felled trees in wooded regions. Here they may be seen some- 

 times in great numbers, 

 nimbly walking over 

 the bark or flying with 

 great speed from tree 

 to tree in the hot 

 sunshine, and pairing, 

 the females depositing 

 their eggs in little cavi- 

 ties nibbled by them 

 for the purpose. The 

 larvae of these typical 

 species are elongated, 

 somewhat flattened, 

 pale, fleshy grubs, hav- 

 ing the first of the tho- 

 racic segments abruptly 

 widened, and only one 

 pair of feet. On emerg- 

 ing from the eggs, the 

 larva? feed on the young 

 wood between the bark 

 and the solid trunk, 

 undergoing in these 

 places their transforma- 

 tions, or burrowing as 

 they grow in size to the 

 interior. Such are the 

 habits of the majority 

 of the family, including 

 most of the larger and 

 handsomer species of our 

 museums. The smaller 

 and broader species, 

 forming the sub-family 

 Trachydi)uu,di&<ir much 



from the others, both in their larval form and their habits, the larva having six mimite feet, and a 

 horny plate on each of the abdominal segments above and beneath, the widest part of the thorax being 

 at the middle segment instead of the first. In its habits it differs further in feeding 

 on the parenchyma of leaves. Although the Buprestidse are peculiarly forest insects, 

 the northern species affecting the timber of coniferous trees, some have passed 

 over to the cultivated trees of orchards. Thus, two species of Chrysobothris, 

 C.femorata and C. /utrrisii, sometimes prove destructive to apple-trees in Noi-th 

 America. As examples of this family, we figure Cyria imperialis, an Australian 

 species, and Chalcophora mariana, a common insect in Central and Southern 

 Europe. The species found in the British Islands are few in number and of 

 small size. 



FAMILIES THROSCnXE, ETJCNEMIDJE, AND ELATERIDvE. 

 Two small families, THROSCID.E and EUCXEMUXE, hold an intermediate 

 position between the great group BUPKESTID.E and the eqiially numerous 

 ELATERID^E. The Throscidte are small insects, resembling the Buprestida? in the intimate union of 

 the various parts of the body and the form of the interlocking apparatus of the fore and middle 



CETOXIA AVRATA (llOSECHAFEB.). 



CYKIA IMPERIALIS. 



