SAWYEK BEETLES. 231 



The first family of the Longicornes is the Prionidre, in which 

 are comprised some of the giants of the insect race, one, indeed, 

 being the largest insect in existence, measuring nine inches in 

 length, and being very wide and thick of body. I should very 

 much have liked to have it engraved, but it is so large that 

 by no possibility could space be found for it, even if a whole 

 page were given up to it. The name Prionidce is taken from 

 the Greek, and is very appropriate, signifying " a sawyer," in 

 allusion to the manner in which the larva cuts its way through 

 timber. 



Some of the species are said to saw branches in two, by 

 grasping them in their toothed jaws and then flying round and 

 round the tree. The late Mr. Waterton showed me a branch of 

 a tree which fell at his feet, and which, had evidently been cut 

 through in some such way. But he did not actually see the 

 insect cut it; and though he was assured by his companions that 

 the Sawyer Beetle really did cut branches in such a fashion, lie 

 could not say that the branch in question had actually been 

 severed by the insect. 



The particular species which is generally pointed out as the 

 Sawyer is Prionus cervicornis, a large rlattish Beetle, mostly 

 black and yellow, having the yellow of the elytra formed into 

 an intricate net-like pattern. Its jaws are long, powerful, and 

 have one long tooth in the middle and about sixteen lesser 

 teeth on each side, so that the insect deserves its popular name 

 of Mouche scieur de long. 



That the perfect insect does eat away the bark in a circular 

 direction is perfectly true, and, as may be expected, the branch 

 dies, so that in the first high wind it is likely to fall. But 

 that it cuts the branch completely across is scarcely credible, 

 nor indeed would there be any object in so doing, as the sap, 

 for which alone the tree is wounded, belongs to the bark, and 

 not to the solid wood. The female is said to use her jaws in 

 biting holes in the bark, so as to make convenient receptacles 

 for her eggs. 



The larva of this Beetle is very destructive, penetrating into 

 the branches of trees, and driving tunnels so completely through 

 the wood, that a mere shell of the branch is left in a perfect 

 state, and so, like those that are "girdled " by the perfect insect, 

 the branch is nearly sure to fall to the ground in tempestuous 



