COLEOPTERA . 
571 
tomologist the goldenrod is a rich mine, yielding to the 
collector more treasures than any other flower. It gives 
up its gold-dust pollen to every insect-seeker; and because 
of this generous attitude to all-comers it is truly emblematic 
of the country that has chosen it as its national flower. 
Among the insects that revel in this golden mine in the 
autumn is a black beetle with numerous transverse or wavy 
yellow bands (Fig. 695). This beetle is also 
found on locust-trees, where it lays its eggs. 
The larvae bore under the bark and into the 
hard wood ; they attain their growth in a little 
less than a year. The locust-trees have been 
completely destroyed in some localities by the 
depredations of these larvae. 
The Painted Hickory-borer, Cyllene pictus 
(C. pic'tus).—This beetle resembles the preced¬ 
ing so closely that the same figure will represent either. 
But the Hickory-borer not only infests a different kind of 
tree, but appears in the spring instead of the autumn. In 
this species the second segment of the hind tarsus is densely 
pubescent beneath, while it is glabrous in the Locust-borer. 
The Oak-pruner, Elaphidion villosutn (El-a-phid'i-on vil- 
lo'sum).—The work of this insect is much more likely to 
attract attention than the insect itself. Frequently, in the 
autumn, the ground beneath oak-trees, and sometimes 
beneath apple-trees also, is strewn with small branches that 
have been neatly severed from the trees as if with a saw. 
These branches are sometimes nearly an inch in diameter, 
and have been cut off by the larva of a beetle, which on ac¬ 
count of this habit is called the Oak-pruner. The beetle lays 
each of its eggs in a small twig. The larva eats out the in¬ 
side of this twig, and works down into a larger branch, fol¬ 
lowing the centre of it towards the trunk of the tree. When 
full grown the larva enlarges the burrow suddenly so as 
nearly to sever the branch from the tree, leaving only the 
bark and a few fibres of wood. It then retreats up its bur- 
