BEETLES. 



331 



Fig. 



1. — Plagioiiotus 

 speciosu'a. 



crevices of the bark of sugar maples, in which the larvse bore. This species is not 

 very abundant, and, although it now and then, perhaps, kills a very young maple, its 

 ravages are not much to be feared. Arhopalus differs structurally 

 from Plagionotus in having filiform instead of comf)ressed antennae. 

 A. fulminans, the only North American species, is brownish black 

 with fine grayish markings and dark brown legs; it lias a con- 

 spicuous black spot on the pronotum, and the elytra are crossed by 

 four fine indistinct zigzag lines of gray. Its larva bores in oak and 

 chestnut wood. 



In Callichroma the scutellum is acute at the tip, the anterior 

 coxal cavities are closed behind, and the prothorax has a spine on 

 each side. A common European species, C. moschata, of which 

 the odor has be^n already alluded to, is about an inch long, bronze 

 green with bluish green legs and antennae. Its larva lives in willow. C splendi- 

 dum, a red-bronze species from 1 to 1.25 inches long, has been found in the southern 

 United States. 



The genus Elaphidion contains longicorns of medium or large size, with rounded 



thorax, moderately long, spiny antennae, coarsely 

 punctured eyes and often of clouded or rusty 

 appearance on account of the unequal distribu- 

 tion of their pubescence. E.parallelum is one of 

 the commoner species in the northeastern United 

 States. It is about 0.6 of an inch long, and of an 

 ashy brown color. The larva is a common borer 

 in oak, and according to Prof. A. S. Packard, 

 " may be recognized by the stOut, thick thoracic 

 feet,, by the rather small prothoracic segment 

 compared with the two hinder ones, by the ab- 

 sence of the ligula, by the large well-developed 

 palpi and antennae, and by the shape of the cal- 

 losities." I have found the larva of this species 

 to be very injurious to the 

 hickory in northern Connec- 

 ticut, where it eats away the 

 wood beneath the bark of twigs up to an inch in diameter, causing 

 the twigs to fall in winter, when the larva continues feeding in the 

 fallen portion. The larva of Catogenus rufus, a beetle belonging 

 to the Cucujidae and common in the same region, devours pupae of 

 JS. parallelum. Chion cinctiis resembles an Elaphidion in general 

 aspect, except that the prothorax of Chion has a short spine on 

 each side, and its scutellum is triangular instead of rounded behind. 

 In C. cinctus the scutellum is whitish, and there is an irregular 

 yellowish band partly across each elytron just forward of the 

 middle. The larva feeds in hickory. 



Cerambyx heros, a not uncommon brownish-black beetle in ^^g. 370. — Larva and 



•^ ' pupa of Chion cmcUts. 



Europe, is from 1 to 1.6 inches long, with antennae about equal 



in length to the body. Its prothorax is plicate above, and armed on each side with a 



spine. Its large fleshy white larva feeds in the wood of oaks, the beetle requiring two 



Fig. 369. — Chion cmctusj 



