192 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
or less developed ovipositor, partly horny and partly 
membranous, being a continuation of the end of the 
abdomen, and capable of considerable elongation, some- 
what after the fashion of tho tubes of a telescope. 
With this instrument, — which can bo thrust to some 
distance from the surface into holes in wood or cracks 
in bark, to the sinuosities of which its substance 
readily adapts itself, — eggs are placed in positions 
where the young larva will be both secure and in the 
midst of suitable food. 
The larvae, which often grow to a large size, and 
live for "a long time before they assume the pupa 
state, commit much damage to trees ; steadily gnawing 
clean-cut galleries or tubes through solid timber, and 
filling up their track with their frass of woody fibres. 
On account of this long duration of their larval condi- 
tion, and of their habit of boring deeply away from 
the surface, near which their traces are small, the 
gallery getting, of course, larger as tho larva increases 
in size, — foreign species have often been introduced 
into this country in wood ; and, as tho perfect insects 
are hardy and fly strongly, they have been caught 
in places far from their original spot of landing. In 
this way a large North American Longicorn has 
occurred near Manchester; and may, indeed, be said 
to have become naturalized, as specimens of it have 
been taken at considerable intervals, and always in 
the same wood, where the original specimen, in all 
probability, laid her eggs. 
The larvaj of the Longicornia are soft, dirty white, 
and fleshy, somewhat flattened, broadest in front, the 
second segment being large and flat ; with tho head 
broad, depressed, hard, retractile, and having strong 
