94 
THE ORDER OF COEEOFTERA. 
Family XXXIV. BUPRESTIIbE. 
[Fig 42. 
The name Buprestis was given by the ancients to some kind of noxi- 
ous insects which cannot now be determined; but it was subsequently 
given by Linmeus to the insects of the present 
family. They might properly be called, in Eng- 
lish, metallic beetles, in reference to their very 
hard and indexible bodies, and their metallic col- 
oring. They are further distinguished by their 
short, slender and finely but distinctly serrate 
antennas and the presence of troeliantins in the 
anterior and middle legs. They are usually of an 
oblong elliptical form, and somewhat depressed 
or flattened, but some of the smaller species are 
either elongate, slender, and almost cylindrical, 
The scutellum is very small 
apple tree, ami of tim soft n,a. am i sometimes wanting. The Buprestidie are 
pie; a, larva; c, head of larva, w ^ 1 
£Sy i,P “ pai <t beetle— pre-eminently a tropical family, and in those tor- 
rid regions they attain a large size, and reflect the light from their pol- 
ished bodies with an almost dazzling brilliancy. 
The larvie present two very distinct forms. The usual form is at 
once distinguished from all other Coleopterous larva? by the enormous 
development of the first segment of the body, into which the head is 
partly retractile. The other segments are narrow and slightly Battened. 
This form of the larvie has caused them to be compared with tadpoles, 
and the French authors describe them as resembling a pestle. They 
are wholly destitute of legs. 
<g V 
Chbvsobothuik fbmorata, ,, nvitp 
Fab: -Fbwheaded borer of the or SUOrC * um alc - 
These larvie usually reside under the bark of trees in a state of inci- 
pient decay, but some of them penetrate into the solid wood. Some of 
the smaller species inhabit the stems of small trees or shrubs, causing 
them to enlarge so as to resemble galls. An example of the former is 
the flat-headed borer of the apple and soft maple trees; and an example 
of the latter is the raspberry cane borer, or larvie of the Agrilm ruficMlis. 
The other form of Buprestide larva is that of the Brachyides or short- 
bodied Buprestidas. In these the first segment is not enlarged, the 
body is slender and tapering, and each of the three first segments is 
furnished with a pair of very small feet, placed wide apart. These spe- 
cies are all very small, and such of them as are known are leaf-miners. 
In an economical point of view, the Buprestidie occupy a peculiar po- 
sition, intermediate between the genuine wood-borers (Ceram bycida* 
and Scolytidie), which bore into the solid wood of trees, and those kind 
of wood-beetles which (like the Elaterid® and many of the Heteromer- 
