With this genus begins a series of beetles in which the neck is longer than in Encyclops, owing to the constriction of the head being near the eyes. B. scalaris, Say, is a very fine insect, varying in length from .75 to 1.20 inch. The form is slender, the elytra tapering greatly to and rounded at tip, deeply sinuate at sides, the tip of the abdomen uncovered. The prothorax is bell-shaped, with prominent, rather flattened hind angles. Colour brownish; most of the head, the greater portion of the fore and middle legs, the bases of the hind femora and the bases and tips of the ventral segments inclining to reddish or even yellowish. Antennæ rufous. Elytra brownish, with a large common, lighter (golden-sericeous), wedge-shaped mark (wavy on the edges and sometimes interruped at about one-third its length by a transverse brownish band) which extends about two-thirds to tip. The body is finely and densely, in most places rugosely, punctured, clothed with fine golden pubescence, which is much denser on certain parts, notably the abdomen. Recorded as breeding in birch, and has been seen ovipositing in maple stumps.