COLE OP TER A. 
S97 
with many the hind end of the body is very blunt, as if cut 
off. The antennae are elbowed or bent in the middle, and 
are clubbed at the tip; the tibiae are usually serrate; the 
Fig. 728. 
pygidium is surrounded at the edge by the wing-covers, 
which have the fold on the inner surface well developed. 
The members of this family feed almost exclusively on 
woody plants. Most of the species make burrows between 
the bark and the wood; but many species bore directly into 
the solid wood, and one well-known pest lives in the roots 
of herbaceous plants. 
In the case of the kind of burrow figured above and other 
similar ones the central tunnel is made by the mother 
beetle. While doing this she makes a series of niches along 
each side of this tunnel, and lays an egg in each. When the 
larvae hatch, each one deepens its niche, and thus makes a 
burrow at right angles to that of the parent beetle. 
In the case of a European species, Tomicus typogra - 
pirns (Tom'i-cus ty-pog'ra-phus), Dr. K. Lindeman, a Russian 
naturalist, has discovered that the original tunnel is be¬ 
gun by the male, which makes a little chamber in the bark ; 
afterwards the female comes to him in this chamber, and 
later she continues the mine begun by her mate, making the 
long central tunnel from which the tunnels of her offspring 
extend. Thus we see that all of the members of a single 
family have a share in making one of these engravings. It 
