Mi 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



rarely kiiol)l)eil; they are inserted in various ways, and generally have eleven joints — 

 sometimes more, rarely fewer ; they are often much better developed in the males than 

 in the females. The elytra usually eover the entire abdomen; a few genera, however, 

 have very short elytra. The wings are a))sent in a few species, and the elytra connate. 

 The mandibles are very stout, but of \arial)le forms. The species are often be.-mtifuUv 

 colored, metallic or velvety, and are oftentimes of consideraltle size, the Cerambyeidie 

 probably contaiuiug the longest species of beetles. Many longieorns are more or less 

 spiny, some species closely resembling twigs, and, according to Mr. 11. W. Bates, 

 .^St/io/uerus lacurdairei, a Brazilian sj)ecies, mimics a butterfly's pupa grown over with 

 fungus. A curious habit of Jlef/adcfus hifasciatus, a species found in Texas, is to eat 

 out the printed portions of posters. Certain species are odorous, those of Prioiais 

 using their odor as a sexual attraction. CnHic/iroma moschafa, a large European spe- 

 cies, derives its specific name from the pleasant musky odor which it exhales, and which 

 is noticeable at considerable distance from the insect. Sonorific organs are possessed 

 by nearly all, probably by all, si)ecies of Ceraiuliycidie. 



The eggs are laid in ere^ ices of bark and of wood ; the larvre feed in both living 

 and decayed wood. The feniales of a few sjiecies girdle twigs and lay their eggs in 

 the portion beyond the girdling; the twigs thus girdled ilie and are broken off by 

 winds, thus furnishing fresh but deail wood for the lar\a'. The females of certain 

 species are said to cut off or girdle twigs by seizing them in their mandibles and flying 

 rapidly around tlie twig as a centre; this mode of girdling is exceptional, if jjractiscd 

 by any species, since longieorns mostly girdle twigs while resting on the brancli below 

 the point to be girdled. Some species lay a large number of eggs; Prionus laticolUs 

 has been found, upon dissection, to contain from three hundred to six hundred eggs. 

 The metamorplioses of some species of longieorns are supposed to require as long as 

 twenty years, but if this is the case it is excejitional, for many sjieeies attain full 

 growth in from one to three years. 



The larva' of Cerambycida- are long, cylindrical, or flattened whitish 

 grubs, with distinct labial palpi, elli])tie;d or circular stigmata, and 

 Y-shajied anal opening. They bore, for the most iiart, in woody jior- 

 tions of trees; some, however, attack herliaceous plants. The head or 

 the larvaj is partly retractile into the flrst thoracic segment, the an- 

 tennaj are very small and concealed in a fold of the head, ocelli ;ire 

 usually absent The larv;e are mostly legless, and when legs are present 

 they are small, with only one claw, but tlie larva assist their jieristaltic 

 motion through their mines by means of wart-like processes ujion their 

 dorsal and ventral surfaces. The form and mode of plication of these 

 processes are of importance in distinguishing the species of longicorn 

 larvse. Most of tlie damage done by these larvse is in destroying timber 

 or by killing shade trees, no less than a dozen different species being 

 known to attack hickory. In Europe damage is said to have been done 

 to grain by the larvse of longieorns boring in tlie ears, and to vegetables 

 sueli as carrots. The fleshy larva of Macrotoma corticimim, cooked 

 with rice, are eaten Viy natives of ^Madagascar; and the natives about 

 King George's Sound, in West Australia, eat both larva and iniagos 

 of Bardistus cibarms. 

 Cerambycida are among the more difficult Ijeetles to classify satisfactorily, because 

 .structural chaiacters, which are usually generic, often become only of specific value in 



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Fig. 359. — I.arva 

 of Afonoham 

 mus. 



