PBIONIDiB.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-Cerambtcid^. 



233 



Turner, Esq., M.P. for Manchester, connects, as I fancy, 

 so I have shown elsewhere, the Brenthidee with the 

 PriuindcB through the genus Dortjslhenes. 



I have caused the excellent figure of the Hypoce- 

 phalus to be copied — figs. 130, 131. 



A glance will show that the insect is closely related 

 to Dorysthencs rostratus and D. montanus, and the 

 allied genera of PrioindoB ; while I have shown else- 

 where its affinities to, if they be not stronger than 

 analogies with, some of the Breiithidm. 



Family— PRIONIDiE. 



The family of Pkionid^ contains some of the largest 

 of coleopterous insects. In this group of Beetles comes 



PsaliJocoptus scaber [Macgillivray'3 New Hebrides Rough beetle). 



the very gigantic South American Longicom, named 

 Tiiamis giyanteus. The insect with the name derived 

 from tlie " family of the giants," and bearing the 

 generic name of their very type and crown, is now 

 becoming scarce. No wonder! Titanus giganteus \s 

 Kouglit eagerly by three parties : first, they say that 

 monkeys eat them ; secondly, 1 kn )W that the negroes 

 hunt eagerly for their large soft grubs. The third assail- 

 lant of 7'itanus is the insect collector, who can get 

 easily a couple of sovereigns or napoleons, or several 

 dollars, for even an injured specimen. Many of the 

 Vol. II. 



PrionidcB have large jaws ; as in Macrodontia cervi- 

 cornis and Psalidognatlius Friendii. The late Mr. 

 Empson took perhaps the first specimen of this insect 

 whicli ever attracted the attention of a European. Mr. 

 George Robert Gray described a specimen brought 

 from Columbia by Lieutenant Friend, which was in 

 the collection of John George Children, F.U.S. The 

 specimen is now in the British Museum. Mr. Empson 

 saw one for the first time in Columbia, at a feast given 

 by the Cabildo at Mariquita. On that occasion he 

 observed one of the Columbian dons willi a Psalidog- 

 natlius, which he used as a button to loop up the broad 

 brim of his Panama hat, after the fashion of Spanish 

 costume. To this Don Domingo Cond(5 had attached 

 a loop of living fire-flies as a brilliant ornament. This 

 Psalidngnathns has enormous jaws cross- 

 ing each other somewhat like scissors; 

 the male has wings; the female has only 

 elytra. It and an allied fpecies are now 

 common. 



The insect here figured by Mr. Holmes, 

 of the natural size, was found by Mr. 

 John Macgillivray at Tana among the 

 New Hebrides, when he was naturalist 

 on board her Majesty's surveying-ship 

 Herald. In the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society, it was described under 

 the name of Psalidocojitus scaler — fig. 

 132. The specimen figured is a female, 

 and exhibits this rough blackish-browii, 

 Longicorn beetle, the elytra of which are 

 united along tlie suture. The name 

 alludes to the ehtra being cut with a 

 delicate outline and incisures, as you may 

 see papers cut with scissors. The male 

 is smaller. 



Family- CERAMBYCID.E and 

 LAMIADiE. 



I can only refer biiefly to a few of the 

 Cerambycid^ with their horizontal 

 heads, and to one or two of the Lami- 

 AD^, with their precipitous foreheads. 

 Some of the latter must bite very fiercely, 

 such as the Pctrognatha gigas of West 

 Africa, with its strong jaws and spined 

 thorax. Dr. Baird sent ua from Kings- 

 land, when he lived there, a fine polished 

 metallic beetle of this family, with curi- 

 ously club-shaped shanks, and named 

 by naturalists Cordyloniera nitidipennis. 

 This fine beetle had pastured as a grub on the Swietenia 

 mahogany, a tree of the West Indies. Fine as the 

 beetle is to the entomologist, the cabinetmaker would 

 much prefer his log, or the veneer from it, to be with- 

 out the holes made by the boiing of the gnib of Cor- 

 dyloniera, Its red legs and thorax are covered with 

 fine shining green elytra, from which entomologists 

 give it the name of nilidipennii. 



On Plate 3, fig. 3, is represented the beautiful grey 

 and black alpine Posalia alpitia, A similarly elegant 

 species was received lately from Vancouver's Island, or 



2G 



