The hole which constitutes the entrance to the excavation is, without exception, at or very near the surface of the ground, and is invariably beneath the layer of dead and decaying leaves that everywhere covers the soil in our Northern deciduous forests.  Each burrow consists of a primary, more or less horizontal, circular canal, that passes completely around the bush, but does not perforate into the entrance hole, for it generally takes a slightly spiral course, so that when back to the starting point it falls either a little above, or a little below it—­commonly the latter (see Figs. 1 and 2).

[Illustration:  FIGS. 1 and 2—­Mines of Corthylus punctatissimus.]

It follows the periphery so closely that the outer layer of growing wood, separating it from the bark, does not average 0.25 mm. in thickness, and yet I have never known it to cut entirely through this, so as to lie in contact with the bark.

From this primary circular excavation issue, at right angles, and generally in both directions (up and down), a varying number of straight tubes, parallel to the axis of the plant (see Figs. 1, 2, and 3).  They average five or six millimeters in length, and commonly terminate blindly, a mature beetle being usually found in the end of each.  Sometimes, but rarely, one or more of those vertical excavations is found to extend farther, and, bending at a right angle, to take a turn around the circumference of the bush, thus constituting a second horizontal circular canal from which, as from the primary one, a varying number of short vertical tubes branch off.  And in very exceptional cases these excavations extend still deeper, and there may be three, or even four, more or less complete circular canals.  Such an unusual state of things exists in the specimen from which Fig 3 is taken.

[Illustration:  FIGS. 3 and 4—­Mines of Corthylus punctatissimus.]

It will be seen that with few exceptions, the most important of which is shown in Fig 4, all the excavations (including both the horizontal canals and their vertical off shoots) are made in the sap-wood immediately under the bark, and not in the hard and comparatively dry central portion.  This is, doubtless, because the outer layers of the wood are softer and more juicy, and therefore more easily cut, besides containing more nutriment and being, doubt less, better relished than the drier interior.

This beetle does not bore, like some insects, but devours bodily all the wood that is removed in making its burrows.  The depth of each vertical tube may be taken as an index to the length of time the animal has been at work, and the number of these tubes generally tells how many inhabit each bush, for as a general rule each individual makes but one hole, and is commonly found at the bottom of it.  All of the excavations are black inside.

The beetle is sub-cylindric in outline, and very small, measuring but 3.5 mm in length.  Its color is a dark chestnut brown, some specimens being almost black.  Its head is bent down under the thorax, and cannot be seen from above (see Fig. 5).