54 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



Capricorn Beetles, or Long-homed Beetles (Cerambicinas). 



These Beetles are so called on account of their long feel- 

 ers (antennae), which resemble those of a mountain goat, and 

 which, in some species, are longer than their body. They 

 may also be recognized by their hard, horny skin, and by 

 the four joints on each foot. 



Their body is cylindrical ; their head short, broad, and 

 bent downward, provided with strong jaws, as also with 

 long, bristle-shaped antennae ; their thorax is generally cyl- 

 indrical, but, in some species, flat, and armed with thorns 

 on both sides ; it emits a sound which is effected by friction, 

 that is, by moving it continually up and down, like a per- 

 son rocking in a rocking-chair. On this account the Ger- 

 mans call them " fiddlers." 



These Beetles, particularly those of the Southern States 

 and of the tropics, are very handsome, and usually attract 

 a good deal of attention by their elegant forms and fine 

 colors. But their grubs are ugly, and none of them of a 

 handsome color. They live always under the bark, or in 

 the interior of the trunks of trees, where they dig serpentine 

 passages, converting the wood into a mealy dust with which 

 they stop up the entrance to their abode. Here they live, 

 feeding continually on the green wood, for two or three 

 years, until they are ready to metamorphose themselves into 

 cocoons, from which they afterward issue as perfect Beetles. 



The numerous species of Capricorn Beetles differ from 

 one another in color, in the length of their antennae, and 

 also in respect to their size. The Ctytus pictus, for instance 

 (Fig. 13), is a North American species, and is only a few 

 lines long, while the Prionus Hayesii, a Capricorn Beetle of 

 Western Africa, is nearly five inches long and one inch 

 broad. Its antennae measure seven inches, and its legs are 

 four inches long. This gigantic insect is of a dark brown 

 color, and has many thorns upon the thorax. 



