BORER BEETLES. 245 



There is a group of Longicorues whose exact place in the 

 system is very doubtfuL They form a well-marked group, and 

 can he at once distinguished by the peculiarity from which they 

 derive their name. The terra Phrissomides is formed from two 

 Greek w^ords signifying " spiked body," and is applied to these 

 insects because not only the thorax but the whole of the upper 

 surface is thickly covered with sharp spikes. The Phrissomides 

 are natives of Southern Africa, 



The present species, Phrissoma horridiim, is the most con- 

 spicuous of the group. Beside the usual spikes on the sides 

 of the thorax, there are two others on the upper surface, so that 

 tlieir jjoints radiate much like those of a dog's spiked collar. 

 On each of the elytra there are three parallel rows of similar 

 but shorter spikes, their bases set closely together ; so that when 



the insect is viewed sideways, the spikes look just like the teeth 

 of three saws. Between them the surface is studded with a vast 

 number of smaller spikes, or rather tubercles, their tips being 

 blunt instead of pointed. In fact, the insect appears to be all 

 spikes, and to be a very unpleasant one to handle. The colour 

 of these projections is shining black at tlie tip, becoming dull, 

 liowever, at the base. 



All of my readers who have jiaid any attention to British 

 entomology must be familiar with tlie Wasp Beetle {Clytus 

 aridis), our best-known example of the Clytides, which is so 

 common in the hedgerows, its black body with its yellow base 

 giving it a very wasp-like air as it slips in and out of the foliage. 

 Neither tliis liet-tlc nor aiiv of its relatives dues much harm in 



