. Coleoptera : general introduction and Cicindelidae and Paussidae. botliris are not far behind these. The prosternal process is very strongly developed in some of theBuprestibvE, but-they have not, apparently, any power of leaping,like the The larvae are remarkable for the great development of thethoracic segments, especially the first, which presents the appear-ance of a large head ; the real head, however, is very small *, and * It has, however, been pointed out by Dr. Sharp and others that themorphology of the head and front parts of the Buprestid lame is not yet fullyunderstoo
. Coleoptera : general introduction and Cicindelidae and Paussidae. botliris are not far behind these. The prosternal process is very strongly developed in some of theBuprestibvE, but-they have not, apparently, any power of leaping,like the The larvae are remarkable for the great development of thethoracic segments, especially the first, which presents the appear-ance of a large head ; the real head, however, is very small *, and * It has, however, been pointed out by Dr. Sharp and others that themorphology of the head and front parts of the Buprestid lame is not yet fullyunderstood, and that the aid of embryology is necessary to settle the point. BUPliESTIDJE. 149 is retractile within the prothorax ; the antennae are extremelyshort, and there are no ocelli; the legs are rudimentary or absent;the mandibles are short, hard, and toothed, and so fitted forgnawing galleries in the wood in which they live ; the abdominalsegments are nine in number, and the anal process projects andlooks like a tenth segment. The larvae are mostly found in wood,. Fig. 65.—Euchroma columbicum larva. (Natural size.—After Schiodte.) but some are, apparently, herbivorous. Like many other wood-feeding species, they have, in numerous instances, been carried fromone country to another, and been wrongly considered as indigenous;the old stories, however, of their emerging in the perfect statefrom articles of furniture in a country quite foreign to them afteran interval of as much as twenty years, certainly require furtherconfirmation. 150 INTRODUCTION. The BupriESTiDiE are very widely distributed, but are veryscarce in temperate climates, and all the large and more brilliantforms are confined to the hottest tropical countries. They areslow on their feet, but extremely active on the wing, and eitherfly off or drop into the herbage beneath instantaneously, on theslightest approach of danger. The chief authority on the group is M. Kerremans, who has donemuch valuable work during the p
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbeetles, bookyear1912
