40 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The largest of these beetles in the New England States, was 

 first described by Linnaeus under the name of Lucanus Caprcolus*, 

 signifying the young roe-buck ; but here it is called the horn-bug. 

 Its color is a deep mahogany-brown ; the surface is smooth and 

 polished ; the upper jaws of the male are long, curved like a sickle, 

 and furnished internally beyond the middle with a little tooth ; 

 those of the female are much shorter, and also toothed ; the head 

 of the male is broad and smooth, that of the other sex narrower 

 and rough with punctures. The body of this beetle measures 

 from one inch to one inch and a quarter, exclusive of the jaws. 

 The time of its appearance is in July and the beginning of 

 August. The grubs live in the trunks and roots of various kinds 

 of trees, but particularly in those of old apple-trees, willows, and 

 oaks. 



Several other and smaller kinds of stag-beetles are found in 

 New England, but their habits are much the same as those of the 

 more common horn-bug. 



All the foregoing beetles have, by some naturalists, been gath- 

 ered into a single tribe, called lamellicorn or leaf-horned beetles, 

 on account of the leaf-like joints wherewith the end of their an- 

 tennae is provided. In like manner, the beetles, next to be de- 

 scribed, have been brought together into one great tribe, named 

 serricorn or saw-horned beetles, because the tips of the joints of 

 their antennae usually project more or less on the inside, some- 

 what like the teeth of a saw. The beetles belonging to the family 

 Buprestid^e, or the Buprestians, have antennae of this kind. 

 The Buprcstis of the ancients, as its name signifies in Greek, was 

 a poisonous insect, which, being swallowed with grass by grazing 

 cattle, produced a violent inflammation, and such a degree of 

 swelling, as to cause the cattle to burst. Linnaeus, however, un- 

 fortunately applied this name to the insects of the abovemen- 

 tioned family, none of which are poisonous to animals, and are 

 rarely, if ever, found upon the grass. It is in allusion to the ori- 

 ginal signification of the word Bwprestis, that popular English 

 writers on natural history, sometimes give the name of burncow 

 to the harmless Buprestians ; while the French, with greater 



* Lucanus Dama of Fabricius. 



