53 



4- 



The larva when hatched soon eats its way into the wood, where it forms channels or 

 galleries through and through the solid interior. When full grown it is a large, soft, 

 white grub, nearly cylindrical in form and destitute of feet. The head is large, of a 

 reddish- brown colour, and is armed with a pair of powerful jaws ; the next joint behind 

 the head is flat and horny, and larger than the others, the Ijody tapering a little from 

 this point backwards. The chrysalis state is passed within the burrow, and the beetle 

 appears late in June or during the month of July. As this insect lives a long time in 

 the larval state, the beetle is often developed after the timber has been built into a 

 house, when, suddenly emerging from its concealment, it becomes a source of wonder to 

 the inhabitants of the dwelling. When burrowing into the wood, the larva makes a 

 noise not unlike the boring of an augur, which on a still night may be heard in the woods 

 for a considerable distance, and such noises occurring in a house where the cause has not 

 been suspected has often given rise to superstitious notions and excited in the timid much 

 alarm. This beetle is very generally distributed throughout the Northern United States 

 and Canada, and in the lumbering districts is sometimes excessively abundant. One 

 instance is on record where nearly three hundred of the beetles were seen at one time on 

 a single pine tree. As these insects are partial to cut timber, they often greatly injure 

 logs which are allowed to remain a season over in the mill-yard. 



MONOHAMMUS SCUTELLATUS. 



This beetle derives its specific name from its white scutellum situated at the junctior> 

 of the wing-covers with the thorax. It varies in length from three-quarters of an inch to 



an inch, and usually occurs most abundantly in Juno. In 

 fig. 20 we have a very good representation of this insect. 

 The body is black above and below, and thickly pitted with 

 irregular impressions. On the wing-cases there are a num- 

 ber of scattered whitish spots of various shapes and sizes, 

 which, when examined with a magnifying lens, are found 

 to be formed of dense clumps of short, whitish hairs, which 

 often disappear by being rubbed off. On each side of the 

 thorax is a thick, triangular spine ; the antennae are many - 

 jointed, and in the female are about the same length as the 

 body, while in the male they are nearly twice that length. 



The larva of this insect is also a thick, white grub, without feet. The body i& 

 divided into a number of welj-marked segments, the head as in the species last described 

 being furnished with a strong pair of jaws. This larva infests the white pine chiefly 

 after the lumber has been cut or newly fallen, and injures it by boring large, oval-shaped 

 cavities, which extend for long distances through the interior of the log. In some localities 

 these insects are very plentiful, literally swarming on pine trees, They are common in 

 the lumbering regions of Canada and the Northern States. 



Criocephalus Agrestis. 



Another injurious beetle belonging to the same family, but having much shorter 

 horns, is known under the name of Criocephalus agrestis. This beetle is of a blackisli- 

 brown colour, with three large irregular indentations on the top of the thorax and two 

 ridges on each of the wing-covers. The antennse are about half the length of the body. 

 The eggs of this insect are laid on the pine trees, and the larva when hatched bores inta 

 the wood, perforating the trunk in all directions, making a flattened cylindrical hole. 

 When full-grown it is about an inch long, is white, footless, with a brown hea I. The 

 anterior portion of the body is somewhat thicker than the hinder segments. The larva, 

 changes to a chrysalis within its burrow, and produces the beetle late in May or early 

 in June. 



5 [en.] 



