FAMILY PRIONID.E. 115 



In a new and distant land ; and in this way, this or any other country may become stocked 

 with new species of insects. In the long run, and with the ever extending intercouse be- 

 tween the different nations of the earth, it is no visionary imagination that the time will 

 come when these beetles will be found in every country where the climate is not decidedly 

 unfavorable to their propagation and existence. 



This group of beetles is divided into three families : 1, the Prionidje, embracing the 

 largest of the group, and provided with very prominent jaws and very long bodies ; 2, the 

 Cerambycidje, containing beetles of moderate dimensions, ornamented with a variety of 

 colors ; and, 3, the Lepturioe, containing insects of a yet smaller size, with bodies dilated 

 before and narrowed behind, and with antennse of a moderate length. 



Prionidse. 



Prionus pennsylvanicus (Fab.). ( Plate xxxiv, tig. 10.) 



Cerambix unicolor (Drury) ; 

 C. brunneus (Forster) ; 



C. cvlindricus (Linn.). 



Insect chestnut brown ; head dark chestnut brown. Antennse stout, and two-thirds the 

 length of the insect : elytra lighter than the head, extending beyond the abdomen, 

 and nearly three times as long as the thorax and head together ; sides parallel ; ab- 

 domen, thighs, and tibise red chestnut. 

 The whole animal is some shade of chestnut brown, but the head and thorax are darker 

 than the elytra. 



Prionus laticollis. ( Plate xxvi, fig. 5.) 



Cerambix laticolli3 (Drury) ; 

 Prionus brevicornis (Fab.). 

 Insect dark chestnut brown ; head and thorax nearly black. Antennse very stout, consisting 

 of twelve joints : tibise armed internally with two short spines ; tarsi beneath yel- 

 lowish. 

 The insects of both species are light and dark chestnut brown ; almost black in the 

 latter species. Their jaws are stout, and project ; and their bodies are longer in proportion 

 to the anterior parts, the elytra extending a little beyond the abdomen. They belong to the 

 large tribe of Capricorn beetles, and form a family called Prionidce, so termed from the 

 structure of the antennse, which are jointed, and give the general appearance of a saw. 

 Some of the tropical species are very large. 



