COLEOPTERA. 79 



then bent forwards between the legs. When the beetle has 

 thrown off its pupa-skin, it gnaws away the thin coat of bark that 

 covers the mouth of its burrow, and comes out of its dark and 

 confined retreat, to breathe the fresh air, and to enjoy for the first 

 time the pleasure of sight, and the use of the legs and wings with 

 which it is provided. 



The Capricorn-beetles have been divided into three families, 

 corresponding with the genera Prionus, Cerambyx, and Leptura 

 of Linnaeus. Those belonging to the first family are generally of 

 a brown color, have flattened and saw-toothed or beaded antennae 

 of a moderate length, projecting jaws, and kidney-shaped eyes. 

 Those in the second, have eyes of the same shape, more slender 

 or much longer antennae, and smaller jaws ; and are often variegat- 

 ed in their colors. The beetles belonging to the third family are 

 readily distinguished by their eyes, which are round and promi- 

 nent. These three families are divided into many smaller groups 

 and genera, the peculiarities of which cannot be particularly point- 

 ed out in a work of this kind. 



The Prionians, or Prionid^e, derive their name from a Greek 

 word signifying a saw, which has been applied to them either be- 

 cause the antennae, in most of these beetles, consist of flattened 

 joints, projecting internally somewhat like the teeth of a saw, or 

 on account of their upper jaws, which sometimes are very long 

 and toothed within. It is said that some of the beetles thus 

 armed can saw off large limbs by seizing them between their jaws, 

 and flying or whirling sidewise round the enclosed limb, till it is 

 completely divided. The largest insects of the Capricorn tribe 

 belong to this family, some of the tropical species measuring five 

 or six inches in length, and one inch and a half or two inches in 

 breadth. Their larvae are broader and more flattened than the 

 grubs of the other Capricorn-beetles, and are provided with six 

 very short legs. When about to be transformed, they collect a 

 quantity of their chips around them, and make therewith an oval 

 pod or cocoon, to enclose themselves. 



Our largest species is the broad-necked Prionus, Prionus lati- 

 collis * of Drury, its first describer. It is of a long oval shape 



* Prionus hrevicornis of Fabricius. 



