THE PAINTED CLYTUS. 103 



pollen, which they devour. During the month of Septen> 

 ber, the painted Clytus, Olytus pictus,* (Plate II. Fig. 10,) is 

 often seen in abundance, feeding by day upon the blossoms 

 of the golden-rod. If the trunks of our common locust-tree, 

 Robinia pseudacacia, are examined at this time, a still greater 

 number of these beetles will be found upon them, and most 

 often paired. The habits of this insect seem to have been 

 known, as long ago as the year 1771, to Dr. John Reinhold 

 Foster, who then described it under the name of Leptura 

 Mobinice, the latter being derived from the tree which it 

 inhabits. Drury, however, had previously described and 

 figured it, under the specific name here adopted, which, 

 having the priority, in point of time, over all the others that 

 have been subsequently imposed, must be retained. This 

 Capricorn-beetle has the form of the beautiful maple Clytus. 

 It is velvet-black, and ornamented with transverse yellow 

 bands, of which there are three on the head, four on the 

 thorax, and six on the wing-covers, the tips of which are also 

 edged with yellow. The first and second bands on each 

 wing-cover are nearly straight; the third band forms a V, 

 or, united with the opposite one, a W, as in the speciosus ; 

 the fourth is also angled, and runs upwards on the inner 

 margin of the wing-cover towards the scutel ; the fifth is 

 broken or interrupted by a longitudinal elevated line; and 

 the sixth is arched, and consists of three little spots. The 

 antennae are dark brown ; and the legs are rust-red. These 

 insects vary from six tenths to three quarters of an inch in 

 length. 



In the month of September these beetles gather on the 

 locust-trees, where they may be seen glittering in the sun- 

 beams with their gorgeous livery of black velvet and gold, 

 coursing up and down the trunks in pursuit of their mates, 

 or to drive away their rivals, and stopping every now and 

 then to salute those they meet with a rapid bowing of the 

 shoulders, accompanied by a creaking sound, indicative of 



* Leptura picla, Drury; Clytus flexuowi, Fabricins. 



