B U PR E ST IS (CH R Y SOC HR OA ) VIT TATA.
P la te 7 . fig . I.
T r ib e . S t e r n o x i , L a tr e ille .
G e n u s . B u p r e s t i s , L in næ u s .
S u b - G e n . C h r y s o c h r o a , C árc e l e t De la p .
C]i. S p . B. a u reo -v iriJ is , elytris b id e iita tis, p u n c ta tis ; lineis q u a tu o r elevatis, v ittaq u e la ta
aure a . Long. Co rp . 1 u n c . 5 lin.
B. g o lden gre en, e ly tra with two apical te e th , p u n c tu re d , with four elevated lines and
a bro ad g o lden stripe . L en g th 1 inch 5 lines.
S y n . B u p re stis V itta ta , F a b r ic iu s S y s t . E le u th . 2. p . 187. O liv . E n t . 2. 32. p . 9 . t. 3.
/ . 17. a— d . H e rb s t. Col. 9 . tab. 138. f . 4.
Bupre stis ig n ita , H e rb s t. A r c h iv . t . 2 8 . a . f . 3.
The family Buprestidæ is one o f the most extensive and brilliant tribes o f coleopterous
insects. Brasil and N ew Holland produce some g ig an tic species, but none more
beautiful than those o f India. W e need adduce no other proof o f this, than Buprestis
chrysis, sternicornis, attenuata, ocellata, and vittata. These wrought into various devices
and trinkets decorate the dresses o f the natives in many parts o f India. The Buprestis
vittata in particular is much admired among them. It is, we believe, entirely peculiar to
China, where it is found in vast abundance, and distributed from thence at a low price
among the other Indians. Tlie Chinese, who always profit by the curiosity o f Europeans,
collect vast quantities o f this Buprestis, and other gay insects, in tlie interior o f the
country, and trafhc with them.
The Buprestis ignita o f Linnæus, with which the present species has been partially
confused, has not the brilliance o f colours that so eminently distinguishes B. vittata, but
in form and size it agrees with it. The only figure o f that species is given by Olivier,
from a specimen formerly in the cabinet o f G igot d'Orcy, o f Paris. The specimen in thè
cabinet o f Sir J. Banks, referred to by Fabricius as B. vittata, agrees with Sulzer's figure
oi that species, as well as the specimen represented here, so that the reference by Fabri-
eius o f Sulzer's figure to B. ignita is incorrect.
Fabricius lias given as a part o f the specific distinction o f these insects, that B. ignita
has three spines at the end o f each wing case, or elytron, and B. vittata no more than two.
This may form a sufficient characteristic in those species ; but we must remark, that it is
not so m Buprestis ocellata. W e have two specimens that have two spines at the end o f
each elytron, and another with three, as Fabricius has described it. We also find several
insects nearly allied to B. vittata, tbe stripe o f gold on each side excepted ; one o f these
has six teeth, another four teeth, and a third only two.
Donovan observes that the Buprestides are supposed, for the most part, to undergo their