PHYTOPHAGA CERAMBYCIDAE 



285 



forming similar nests on a species of Thrinax in St. Domingo. 

 Candeze says l that when it lias completed its growth the larva 

 ejects on to the leaf a quantity of semi-liquid matter, and this, on 

 drying, sticks the nest to the leaf, so that the metamorphosis is 

 effected under shelter. 



Fam. 79. Cerambycidae (Longicorns). Form usually oblong, 

 not much, curved in outline at the sides; surface very frequent! '// ren- 

 dered dull by a very minute hairiness, which often forms a ////*/// ; 

 antennae usually long, and their insertion much embraced by ///*' 

 eyes. This great family of beetles includes some 12,000 or 

 13,000 known species. The elegance and variety of their forms 

 and the charm of their colours have caused them to attract much 

 attention, so that it is probable that a larger proportion of the 

 existing species have been obtained than is the case in any other 

 of the great families of Coleoptera. Still 

 it is not likely that one-half of the living- 

 forms are known. It is not possible at 

 present to point out any one character of 

 importance to distinguish Cerambycidae 

 from Chrysomelidae, though the members 

 of the two families have, as a rule, but 

 little resemblance in external appearance. 

 Most of them live on, or in, wood, though 

 many are nourished in the stems of her- 

 baceous plants. The larvae live a life of con- 

 cealment, and are soft, w^hitish grubs with 



powerful mandibles, and usually with a comparatively small head, 

 which is not much exserted from the thorax. Most of them are 

 without legs, but a good many have three pairs of small legs, and 

 there are numerous cases in which the surface of the body is 

 furnished above or below with swellings believed to act as 

 pseudopods (Fig. 84), and help the larvae to move about in their 

 galleries ; but this is probably not the sole function of these 

 organs, as their surface is varied in character, and often not of a 

 kind that appears specially adapted to assist in locomotion. 

 There is a slight general resemblance between the larvae of Ceram- 



O O 



bycidae and those of Buprestidae, and when the thorax of a 

 Lougicorn larva is unusually broad, e.g. Asiynomus, this similarity 

 is very pronounced. 



1 Mem. Soc. LUge, xvi. 1861, p. 387. 



1H! 



