THE SERRICORN BEETLES. 
45 
brown ; the surface is smooth and polished ; the upper jaws 
of the male are long, curved like 
a sickle, and furnished internally 
beyond the middle with a little 
tooth; those of the female are 
much shorter, and also toothed ; 
the head of the male is broad and 
smooth, that of the other sex nar¬ 
rower and rough Avith punctures. 
The body of this beetle measures 
from one inch to one inch and 
a quarter, exclusive of the jaws. 
The time of its appearance is in 
July and the beginning of Au¬ 
gust. The grubs live in the trunks and roots of A^arious 
kinds of trees, but particularly in those of old apple-trees, 
AvilloAvs, and oaks. All the foregoing beetles haA^e, by some 
naturalists, been gathered into a single tribe, called lamelli- 
com or leaf-horned beetles, on account of the leaf-like joints 
Avherewith the end of their antennae is proAuded. 
The beedes next to be described have been brouorht to- 
gether into one great tribe, named serricorn or saw-horned 
beetles, because the tips of the joints of their antennae usually 
project more or less on the inside, someAAdiat like the teeth 
of a saAV. The beetles belonging to the family Buprestid^, 
or the Buprestians, haA^e antennae of this kind. The Bupres- 
tis of the ancients, as its name signifies in Greek, Avas a poi¬ 
sonous insect, wliich, being SAvalloAved AAdth grass by grazing 
cattle, produced a Auolent inflammation, and such a degree 
of sAvellino; as to cause the cattle to burst. Linnaeus, Iioaa'- 
eA^er, unfortunately applied this name to the insects of the 
aboA^e-mentioned family, none of AAdiich are poisonous to ani¬ 
mals, and are rarely, if eA^er, found upon the grass. It is in 
allusion to the original signification of the word Buprestis^ 
that popular English Avfiters on natural history sometimes 
give the name of burncoAv to the harmless Buprestians ; AAdiile 
