CHAPTER IX. 

 WOOD-BORING INSECT?. 



BiETLES — The usual form of the Wood-borers — The ScoiTTUS and its ravages — 

 Mode of forming the Tunnels — Curious instinct — Theories respecting the 

 Scolytus — Worm-eaten Furniture, its cause, and the best method of checking 

 the Boring Insects — Ginger and Cork-borers — The "Petrified" Man— The 

 Mbal-Wobm and its ravages — Weevils — ^The Palm- Weevil of Jamaica — Its 

 development and uses as au edible — Its Cocoons — The Wasp-Beetle, its shape, 

 colours, and tunnelling powers — The Musk Beetle — Its beauty and fragrance 

 — Difficulty of detecting the Musk-Beetle — Its Burrows and their inmates — 

 The Ehagium and its Cocoon— The Haklequin Beetle — ^Wood-boring Bees — 

 Willow- Bee, its Tunnel and mode of making the Cells — Food of the Young — 

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

 cells and escape of the Young — Economy of labour — Shell-nests of Bees — 

 AVonderful 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-treea — ^Formidable aspect of the insect — 

 The two British species — Carpenter Bee — Mode of making its burrow — 

 Methodical labour — 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 ttose insects 

 which tunnel into wood and other substances. The Hymenoptera 

 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 



