| Fig. 559.—Hylesinus piniperda. | Fig. 560.—Larva of Scolytus. |
Scolytus, Hylesinus, and Bostrichus, which are connected with the weevils, hollow out galleries between the wood and the bark of different trees, when in the larva state, and devour the leaves in the adult state. [Fig. 559] represents the Hylesinus piniperda. The Scolyti are sometimes so numerous in the forests, that the trees are tattooed all over by the larvæ. In 1837, they were obliged to cut down, in the Bois de Vincennes, 20,000 feet of oak trees, aged from thirty to forty years, completely ruined by the ravages of the Scolytus, whose larva is here represented ([Fig. 560]). The genus Tomicus, hairy, and of a tawny colour, are a terrible plague to pine forests. In 1783, in the Forest of Hartz, 1,500,000 of trees were destroyed by these insects. Often have the priests implored, in the churches, the Divine clemency, to put an end to the devastations made by them.
We arrive at the tribe of the Longicornes, which contains beautiful insects, of elegant shape and varied colours, sometimes also of rather large dimensions.
Fig. 561.—Imago and pupa of Cerambyx heros.
The genus Cerambyx has the antennæ very long; they exceed in some of the species two or three times the length of the body. The larvæ are large whitish worms, which live in the wood of trees, the adult insects frequenting flowers, rotten trees, &c. In the month of June, on the Continent, one meets on the oaks with the Great Capricorne (Cerambyx heros, [Fig. 561]), of a dark brown, whose larva ([Fig. 562]) scoops out its galleries in the interior of the tree, and often occasions much damage.
