ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



PRIONUS CORIARIUS. Fabr. 

 Cerambyx coriarius. Linne. 



The whole upper part of this insect is of a deep 

 chesnut brown inclining to blackish and slightly shin- 

 ing : the antennas in the males are serrated, much 

 longer and thicker than in the female, the one figur- 

 ed, and is of the same colour; the palpi and upper lip 

 are red : the jaws are large and powerful : the head 

 is punctured and has a deep indentation between the 

 line at the base of the antennae, which are inserted 

 near the eye and gives to the latter a kidney form : 

 the thorax is nearly twice the breadth of its length, 

 and furnished on each side with three acute spines . 

 the elytra are punctured with two indistinct elevated 

 striae and rounded at their extremities : the legs are 

 more or less of a reddish chesnut colour. The breast 

 is black and thickly covered with yellowish hair ; the 

 body is of a bright chesnut. Length of the male i 

 inch 2 lines, of the female 1 inch 7 lines. 



This highly interesting insect to the entomologist 

 is rare. Like many of the Cerambycidce these insects 

 emit a noise when alive by rubbing the thorax 

 against the base of the elytra, and in Germany, from 

 this circumstance, are called fiddlers. In the larvae 

 state this insect feeds on the wood of the oak, elm 

 and aspen ; but is seldom met with, and is supposed 

 by many to have been the Cossus of Pliny, which he 

 tells us the Roman epicures fattened with flour, and 

 8-2 



