OCR Text |
Show 524 INSECTA. These lines are sometime. s obliterated, and the individual s . In which this occurs are cons1dered by some entomologists as form. ing a separate species-the elongatum. No others are kno,vn(l). In the third and last genus of this t~ibe, or PnioNus, Geoff. Fab. Oliv. The antennce are longer than the head and thorax, serrated or pee. tinated in some; simple, attenuated near the extremity, and with elongated joints in others. The terminal lobe of the maxil!re is at least as long as the two first joints of the palpi. The body is gene· rally depressed, ~nd the thorax squa!·e or trapezoidal, and either dentated or spinous, or angular laterally. These Insects only fly towards evening or at night, and always remain on trees. Certain species foreign to Europe are remarkable for their great size, and that of their mandibles. The larva of the P. cervicornis, which lives in the wood of the Gossampinus, is eaten. This genus comprises a considerable number of species, which, from the difference in the form and size of their mandibles, antennre, thorax, and abdomen, might constitute several small groups or sub· genera. We might, in the first place, separate those species in which the body is straight, elongated, or forms a parallelopiped; the thoraxis much shorter than the abdomen, square or trapezoidal, and strongly arcuated laterally; the scutellum is small or moderate; the antennre are simple or but slightly serrated, and the mandibles frequently large in the males. Among the species of this division, with mandibles shorter than the head, the antennce almost setaceous, tolerably long, and composed' of eleven joints, the third of which is much longer than the following ones, we find the P. scabricornis, Fab. Oliv., Col. IV, 66, XI, 42. Length an inch and a half; antennce bristled with small spines; a single tooth on each side of the thorax formed by its posterior an· gles(2). Other species, generally less oblong and slightly inclined before, in which the mandibles are always moderate or project but little in both sexes, with the thorax strongly dentated laterally; where the antennce are pectinated or strongly serrated in the males, and com· (1) See Fab., Oliv., Lat., Gyll., &c., &c. (2) The Prioni giganteus, cervicornis, damicornis, maxillosua, barbatus, faba, serripes, &c., of Fabricius and Olivier. COLEOPTERA. 525 osed of more than eleven joints in several·of these individuals; and ~here the clytra are as long as the abdomen, and cover it superiorly, as well as the wings, would form a second general division. P. coriatius; Cemmbyx cotiarius, L.; Oliv., lb., I, 1.' Length, fifteen lines; blackish brown; the anteun~ serrated and composed of twelve joints in the male; three teeth on each lateral margin of the thorax. 'l'he larva lives in the decayed trunks of Oak and Birch trees. When about to undergo its metamorphosis it enters the ear~h(l). It appears to me that other Prionii, peculiar to Brazil, of an analogous form, but with small triangular elytra \vhich do not entirely cover the abdomen-Pam. Nat. du Regne Anim.-should form a distinct genus-ANAOOLUS. Messrs Lepeletier and Serville have described two species-sanguineus, lugubris-in the E,ncyclopcdie Methodique. Finally, others with various and metallic colours in several have a shorter, wider, and almost oval body; the head is frequently prolonged posteriorly behind the eyes; the antennre are simple and compressed; the mandibles short; the thorax is wide, dilated, arcuatetl, and unidentated laterally, and obliquely truncated or emarginatcd at the posterior angles; the abdomen is nearly square, about one-half longer than it is wide. The scutellum is usually large. The ligula is proportionally more clongated(2). 2. The CERaMBYCINI have a very apparent labrum extending across the whole width of the anterior extremity of the head; their two maxillary lobes are very distinct and salient; their mandibles of an ordinary size, and similar or but little different in both sexes; their eyes always emarginated and .surrounding, at least partially, the base of the a1itennre, which are usually as long as the body or longer ; the thighs, .or the four anterior ones at least, are commonly in the form of an ovoid or oval club, narrowed into a pcdicle.at.base. In the first place we have those in which the last joint of the pal pi is always manifestly thicker than the preceding ones, and in the form of a reversed triangle, or obconical; where the head is not sensibly narrowed aD;d prolonged anteriorly in {1) The P. br~icornis, imbricornis, depsarius, &c. (2) The P. nitidus, lineatus, 'l'lwrrue, bifasciatus, canalir:ulatus, &c., Fab. The P. 8pencii, Kirby, Lin. Trans., XII, xxii, 13, appears to belong to ~.e same division, or to form a separate one. See La.t., Gener. Crust .. et Insect. I, u, P· 30, et seq.; and Encyc. Method., article Prione. |