COLEOPTERA. 



39 



their prison, crawl through the passages the larva; had gnawed, 

 and come forth on the outside of the trees. 



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

 first described by liinn^us under the name of Lucaiius Caprc- 

 olus* 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 sj^rter, 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. All the foregoing 

 beetles have, by some naturalists, been gathered into a single 

 tribe, called lamellicorn or leaf-horned beetles, on account of 

 the leaf-Uke joints wherewith the end of their antenna; is pro- 

 vided. 



The beetles next to be described, have been brought together 

 into one great tribe, named serricorn or saw-horned beetles, 

 because the tips of the joints of their antennse usually project 

 more or less on the inside, somewhat like the teeth of a saw. 

 The beetles belonging to the family Buprestid.e, or the Bu- 

 prestians, have antenna; of this kind. The Buprestis 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 swelfing 

 as to cause the cattle to burst. Linnaeus, however, unfortu- 

 nately applied this name to the insects of the above-mentioned 

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

 if ever, found upon the grass. It is in allusion to the original 

 signification of the word Buprestis, that popular English writers 

 on natural history sometimes give the name of bm-ncow to the 

 harmless Buprestians; while the French, with greater propriety 



' * Lucanus Dama of Fabricius. 



