THE PRIONIANS. 
95 
smaller groups and genera, the peculiarities of which cannot 
be particularly pointed out in a work of this kind. 
The Prionians, or Prioxidje, derive their name from a 
Greek word signifying a saw, which has been applied to 
them either because the antennae, in most of these beetles, 
consists of flattened joints, projecting internally somewhat 
like the teeth of a saw, or on account of their upper jaws, 
which sometimes are very long and toothed within. It is 
said that some of the beetles thus armed can saw off large 
limbs by seizing them betw^een their jaws, and flying or 
whirling sidewise round the enclosed limb, till it is completely 
divided. The largest insects of the Capricorn tribe belong to 
this family, some of the tropical species measuring five or six 
inches in length, and one inch and a half or two inches in 
breadth. Their larvae are broader and more flatteped than 
the gi'ubs of the other Capricorn-beetles, and are provided 
with six very short legs. When about to be transformed, 
they collect a quantity of their chips around them, and make 
therewith an oval pod or cocoon, to enclose themselves. 
Our largest species is the broad-necked Prionus (Fig. 44), 
Prionus laticoUis* of Drury, its 
first describer. It is of a Ions; 
oval shape and of a pitchy-black 
color. The jaws, though' short, 
are very thick and strong ; the an- 
tennaB are stout and saw-toothed 
in the male, and more slender in 
the other sex ; the thorax is short 
and wide, and armed on the lat¬ 
eral edges with three teeth ; the 
wing-covers have three slightly 
elevated lines on each of them, 
and are roush with a multitude 
of large punctures, which run to¬ 
gether irregularly. It measures 
* Prionus brevicornis of Fabricius. 
Fig. 44. 
from one inch and one 
