INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 197 
to move the logs promptly from the woods to the saw and not allow 
them to remain where they will be exposed to borer attack. 
There are a number of other buprestids of minor importance. 
Brachys ovatus (Web.), B. aerosus Melsh., and B. aeruginosus Gory 
occur on the foliage of deciduous trees and frequently cause injury to 
the leaves by their feeding. The larvae are leaf miners and pupate in 
small cells between the layers of the leaves. Actenodes acornis (Say) 
works in the dry heartwood of maple, birch, beech, oak, and hickory 
and produces extensive burrows in the infested sticks. The adult is a 
dark, metallic-green beetle from 10 to 13 mm. in length. The ventral 
surface is dull cupreous. The prominent eyes, which are nearly united 
on the vertex, will serve to distinguish it from the other members of 
this family. 
Agrilaxia flavimana (Gory) is recorded as breeding in the small 
branches of white oak and is not of any economic importance. Cinyra 
gracilipes (Melsh.) is a small, slender, brassy-brown beetle somewhat 
resembling a Dicerca in appearance. The larvae mine the wood of 
dead oak and ironwood branches. Four species of the genus Anthaaia 
occur in the Northeast. A. aeneogaster C. & G. breeds in conifers, 
A. viridifrons Gory in hickory and elm, A. viridicornis (Say) in wil- 
low, and A. guercata (F.) in redbud, Crataegus, white pine, larch, 
chestnut, and oak. The larvae mine under the bark and form pupal 
cells in the sapwood very much like the mines of Chrysobothris. 
Famity CISIDAE 
The Minute Fungus Beetles 
The minute fungus beetles are small subcylindrical black or brown 
beetles, rarely over 3mm. in length, that have 8- to 10-jointed antennae, 
the last 3 joints forming a club. The margins of the thorax are dis- 
tinct and often projecting in front. The larvae are thin-textured, 
elongate, cylindrical forms, having two conical spines on the ninth 
abdominal segment and a globular protuberant head. The mandibles 
are without a molar structure, the gula is rectangular, and the legs 
four- or five-jointed. 
They are found in abundance in woody fungi growing on trees or 
logs, in which both larvae and adults feed. The whitish round fruit- 
ing bodies of Polyporus volvatus appearing on trees killed by Den- 
droctonus beetles 1 year after attack are invariably infested by several 
of these forms, chiefly Cis and Ennearthron. Some records indicate 
that furniture or the wood in houses is attacked, but this is probably 
only when it is somewhat rotted. 
Famity CLERIDAE 
Checkered Beetles 
The Cleridae or checkered beetles, as they are often called, con- 
stitute one of the most important families of predators attacking in- 
jurious forest insects. The small, active, brightly colored, antlke 
beetles are voracious feeders on adult bark beetles, and the clerid 
larvae, living in the burrows of bark beetles and wood borers, destroy 
the immature stages of these insects. They are distinguished by their 
conspicuous antennae, usually 11-jointed and generally serrate, with 
