COLEOPTERA. 103 



those where the eyes are rounded and entire, or but slightly emar- 

 ginated ; even in this case the legs are long and slender, and the 

 tarsi elongated. 



M. Leon Dufour remarks, that in their alimentary canal, as well as 

 in the disposition of their hepatic vessels, these Insects bear a general 

 resemblance to the Melasoma; contrary to the opinion of M. Marcel 

 de Serres, he denies the existence of a gizzard. The alimentary 

 canal, most commonly covered with papillae, is preceded by a crop, 

 but less or slightly marked in the Lamise and Lepturse, which, ac- 

 cording to our system, terminate this family. The testes are formed 

 by distinct, pediculated, and tolerably large spermatic capsules or 

 sacs, which vary in number according to the genus. 



As almost all their larvae live in the interior of trees, or under their 

 bark, they are destitute of feet, or have but very small ones. Their 

 body is soft, whitish, thickest anteriorly, and the head squamous and 

 provided with stout mandibles, but without any other projecting part. 

 They do much injury to tFees, the large ones particularly, perforating 

 them very deeply, or boring holes in them in every direction.* Some 

 of them attack the roots of plants. The abdomen of the females is 

 terminated by a tubular and horny ovipositor. These Insects pro- 

 duce a small sharp sound by the rubbing of the pedicle of the base of 

 their abdomen against the interior of the parietes of the thorax. 



In the system of Linnseus, these Insects form three genera, 

 Ceramhyx, Leptura and Necydalis, which Geoffrey, Fabricius, and 

 other naturalists have endeavoured to regulate and simplify by the 

 transposition of species, or by establishing other generic sections. 

 If we consider the number of species that have been discovered since 

 the time of the Pliny of the North, the insufficiency of the characters 

 Avhich designate these genera, and the confusion which still exists in 

 several of them, it will be plain that a general and elaborate revision 

 has become necessary. Let us hope that the researches of Messrs. 

 Lepeletier and Serville, who have paid particular attention to this 

 family, will remove these difficulties. 



AVe Avill, in the first place, divide the Longicornes into two sec- 

 tions. 



In those of the first, the eyes are either strongly emarginated or 

 lunate, or elongated and narrow; the head is plunged into the 

 thorax, as far as those organs, without being distinguished from it by 



* See the Nat. Hist, of the Lamia ampulator, by M. Laugsd. QuUcIing, Lin. 

 Trans. XIII. 



