COLEOPTERA. 



The largest Capricorn-beetle, of the Cerambycian family, 

 found in New England, is the Lamia [Monnhammus) tiliUator 

 of Fabricius, or the tickler, so named probably on account of 

 the habit which it has, in common with most of the Capricorn- 

 beetles, of gently touching now and then the surface on which 

 it walks with the tips of its long antennae. Three or four of 

 these beetles may sometimes be seen together in June and 

 July, on logs or on the trunks of trees in the woods, the males 

 paying their court to the females, or contending with their 

 rivals, waving their antenna?, and showing the eagerness of 

 the contest or pursuit by their rapid creaking sounds. 



The head of the Lamias is vertical or perpendicular; the 

 antennae of the males are much longer than the body, and 

 taper to the end ; the thorax is cylindrical before and behind, 

 and is armed on the middle of each side with a very large 

 pointed wart or tubercle; the tips of the wing-covers are 

 rounded; and the fore legs are longer than the rest, with 

 broad hairy soles in the males. 



The titillator is of a brownish color, variegated or mottled 

 with spots of gray, and the wing-covers, which are coarsely 

 punctured, have also several small tufted black spots upon 

 them ; the middle legs are armed with a small tooth on the 

 upper edge ; the antennae of the male are twice as long as the 

 body, and those of the other sex equal the body in length, 

 which measures from one inch and one eighth to one inch 

 and one quarter. What kind of tree the grub of this insect 

 inhabits is unknown to me. 



Trees of the poplar tribe, both in Eiu-ope and America, are 

 subject to the attacks of certain kinds of borers, differing 

 essentially from all the foregoing when amved at maturity. 

 They belong to the genus Saperda. In the beetle state the 

 head is vertical, the antenna? are about the length of the body 

 in both sexes, the thorax is cylindrical, smooth, and unarmed 

 at the sides, and the fore legs are shorter than the others. Our 

 largest kind is the Saperda calcarata of Say, or the spurred 

 Saperda, so named because the tips of the wing-covers end 

 with a little sharp point or spur. It is covered all over with a 

 short and close nap, which gives it a fine blue-gray color, it is 



