June, ’18] 
BURKE: BUPRESTIS BIOLOGY 
335 
ficial because they mine stumps on cutover land and thus cause rapid 
decay and easy clearing. The species of groups two and three often 
attack slightly injured trees and cause severe damage to the wood. 
One millman working in longleaf pine timber in the South, some of 
which had been boxed for turpentine, estimated his loss from the mines 
of Buprestis apricans as 1 per cent totally destroyed and 5 per cent re¬ 
duced to the lower grades. 
Such brilliantly colored species as aurulenta, adjecta, etc., may 
liave a possible value as ornaments. Very beautiful and unique stick¬ 
pins and breast pins can be made by mounting the beetles in a gold 
irame. 
Responsibility for the identifications of the species discussed in this 
paper rests with the writer. Most of the beetles have been determined 
at various times after consultation with Dr. E. A. Schwarz of the 
United States National Museum, Mr. W. S. Fisher of the Branch 
of Forest Insect Investigations and Dr. E. C. Van Dyke of the Uni¬ 
versity of California. There is a great deal of confusion in regard to 
the identity of some of the species and the genus needs a careful re¬ 
vision by a good taxonomist who will use all of the biological data ob¬ 
tainable to supplement the taxonomic characters. 
Buprestis rufipes Oliv.—Maryland, District of Columbia, West 
Virginia, Virginia and Georgia; mines dead wood of scars and limbs 
of live trees and wood of dead trees; hickory (Hicoria sp.), beech 
(Fagus atropunicea), chestnut (Castanea dentata), white oak (Quercus 
alba), live oak (Q. virginiana) and tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera); 
does some damage to the wood of standing dead trees and, according to 
Mr. T. E. Snyder, to chestnut telephone and telegraph poles; larvae 
•common in the District of Columbia but beetles rarely taken by col¬ 
lectors. 
Buprestis gibbsii Lee.—Southern Oregon, sierran California; on 
black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and black oak (Quercus cali- 
fornica); flies in July and August; rare; has not been reared; varies 
a great deal in the amount of yellow and red on the elytra. 
Buprestis confluens Say.—Colorado, Utah and sierran California; 
mines wood of injured, dying and dead trees; aspen (Populus tremu- 
loides) and common cottonwood (P. deltoides); flies from July to 
September; larvae and work very common in the Lake Tahoe region of 
California but beetles rather rare; lives in the wood several years as a 
larva; pupates in the spring. 
Buprestis lineata Fab.—Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, 
North Carolina, Georgia and Texas; mines wood of injured, dying and 
dead trees; loblolly pine (Pinus tseda) scrub pine (P. virginiana), and 
longleaf pine (P. palustris); pupates and transforms to beetle stage 
