1838. HOUSE—No. 72. 93 
From the regularity of its form and noble size, the sugar maple is 
accounted one of the most beautiful, while, from its many useful 
properties, it is esteemed one of the most valuable of our forest trees. 
This fine tree suffers much by the attacks of a borer belonging to 
the genus Clytus, which in some cases produces its entire destruc- 
tion. 
The genus Clytus is characterized by having the head nutant ; the 
body flattened ; the thorax globose, or orbicular, and convex, with- 
out spines or tubercles ; the antenne usually shorter than the body ; 
and the palpi or feelers terminated by a triangular joint. 
The species which has been discovered in the sugar maple, is the 
Clytus speciosus, scientifically described by Mr. Say, and accurately 
represented by the pencil of Lesueur, in the American Entomology. 
But for its habits we are indebted to the investigations of the Rev. 
L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, N. H. In the summer of 1828, he 
discovered the perfect insect under the loosened bark of some young 
maples in Keene, and traced the recent track of the larva three 
inches into the solid wood. ‘These trees, on the cultivation of which 
much care had been bestowed, were nearly destroyed by this large 
insect. Specimens of the perfect insect have been repeatedly cap- 
tured in the vicinity of Boston, which were undoubtedly brought 
here in maple logs from the State of Maine. They have been taken 
in the month of July. 
Many species of Clytus are found during the day upon flowers, 
and do not therefore seem to be nocturnal insects. During the 
month of September, Clytus pictus is often seen in abundance, feed- 
ing upon the blossoms of the golden-rod. If the trunks of our com- 
mon locust tree, Robinia preud-acacia, are examined at this time, a 
still greater number of these insects 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 Reinholdt Fors- 
ter, who then described it under the name of Leptura Robinie, the 
latter being derived from the tree which it inhabits. Drury, howev- 
er, had previously described and figured it under the specific name 
which I have adopted, and which, having the priority, in point of 
time, over all the others which have subsequently been imposed, must 
be retained. ‘The female deposits her eggs in the crevices of the 
