FAMILY CERAMBYCIDAE 



269 



spiniconris. Green sal-trees in Goalpara, Assam, felled one day, were found 

 the next to have a hundred or two of the beetles crawling about in the 

 shade of the outside of the bark nearest the ground, all intent on pairing 

 or egg-laying. The forest contained hundreds and thousands of these 

 beetles, and yet there was no sign of them until sought for, as the insect is 

 not a diurnal one, as is the case with its companion in these forests, Thysia 

 wallichii, which is found at the same time flying about or sitting on the 

 bark of the trees in the sunlight. 



The larger forms of this family have a powerful flight, and they will 

 be found on the wing at night apparently very little incommoded by the 

 severest of spring storms. 



Briefly, as will be seen by a reference to fig. 187, the beetle is of elongate 



form, with well-marked "shoulders" to the elytra, 



Beetle. a prominent prothorax, and a vertical or horizontal 



head. The antennae are very characteristic of the 



insects, having eleven (sometimes twelve) joints each, usually long, the 

 basal one swollen, and the 

 others tumid at the nodes. 

 These antennae are held 

 over the back in the position 

 of rest ; the basal joint fits 

 into the eye on one side, 

 the latter being hollowed 

 out to take this insertion, 

 and becoming thus reni- 

 form, or kidney-shaped. It 

 will be usually found that 

 the antennae are longer in 

 the male than in the female. 

 The mandibles are long and 

 powerful, and the palps 

 prominent. The thorax is 

 usually square, and may be 

 spined, and is at times 

 corrugated on the dor- 

 sal surface. The legs 

 are strong and long ; the 

 tarsus of the foot is four- 

 jointed, the first three joints 

 being bilobed, and spongy 

 and hairy. The elytra are 

 flat, and the beetles of all 

 sorts of colours, but rarely 

 metallic (as in the case of 

 the Buprestidae). They are 



. 187. Afasstcus unicolor, Gahzn. $ \. 



.Sinn licni Shun States. 



