FOREST-TREE BORERS. 
47 
long, narrow, and depressed in form, but abniptly widened 
near the anterior extremity. The head is brownish, 21 
small, and sunk in the fore part of the first segment; 
the upper jaws are provided with three teeth, and 
are of a black color ; and the antennae are very 
short. The seo-ment which receives the head is 
short and transverse ; next to it is a larfije oval seg;- 
ment, broader than long;, and depressed or flattened 
’ O’ 1 Larva of 
above and beneath. Behind this, the segments are Buprestis. 
very much narrowed, and become gradually longer; but are 
still flattened, to the last, which is terminated by a rounded 
tubercle or wart. There are no legs, nor any apparatus which 
can serve as such, except two small warts on the under-side 
of the second seg-mcnt from the thorax. The motion of the 
grub appears to be effected by the alternate contractions and 
elongations of the segments, aided, perhaps, by the tubercu¬ 
lar extremity of the body, and by its jaws, with wliich it takes 
hold of the sides of its burrow, and thus draws itself along;. 
These g:rubs are found under the bark and in the solid wood 
of trees, and sometimes in great numbers. They frequently 
rest with the body bent sidewise, so that the head and tail 
approach each other. This posture those found under bark 
usually assume. They appear to pass several years in the 
larva state. The pupa bears a near resemblance to the per¬ 
fect insect, but is entirely white, until near the time of its last 
transformation. Its situation is immediately under the bark, 
the head being directed outwards, so that, when the pupa-coat 
is cast off, the beetle has merely a thin covering of bark to 
perforate, before making its escape from the tree. The form 
of this perforation is oval, as is also a transverse section of the 
burrow, that shape being best adapted to the form, motions, 
and eg:ress of the insect. 
Some of these beetles are known to eat leaves and flowers, 
and of this nature is probably the food of all of them. The 
injury they may thus commit is not very apparent, and can¬ 
not bear any comparison with the extensive ravages of their 
