cerambycim. 
369 
inch to over one inch in length, the body robustly built and the inte¬ 
gument hard. The colours are sombre or bright, many being cryp¬ 
tically coloured, others exhibiting Mullerian mimicry, imitating the 
colouring of warningly coloured insects. 
The head is distinct and well developed, with large eyes and power 
ful trophi, the heavy biting mandibles being prominent. Antennae 
are long, dentate in some forms, in others with tufts of hair. The pro¬ 
thorax is powerful, accurately adapted to the body. The elytra cover 
a pair of ample wings and are closely applied to the abdomen. In some 
cases they are abbreviated or narrowed and do not wholly cover the 
abdomen. The legs are long, the tarsi pubescent. Males are similar 
to the females, the former having larger mandibles and distinctions in 
the antennae and forelegs and, as a rule, the antennae are longer. They 
stridulate by moving the prothorax against the body, the posterior 
edge of the prothorax rubbing on a corrugated surface on the meso- 
thorax and so producing an audible squeak. 
The life-history, so far as known, is uniform throughout the group. 
The females lay large eggs singly in cracks of the bark of trees or on 
bamboos. These eggs hatch to legless larvae which tunnel in the hard 
woody tissues, eating out large galleries in which they live. The larva 
is characteristic in form, generally similar to that of Buprestidae but 
with the abdomen more developed and the swollen prothorax less 
marked. The head is small, with powerful biting mandibles. The 
thorax is slightly swollen, with a broad dorsal plate, without legs ; the 
abdomen often has dorsal plates on each segment. The pupa is found 
iil 24 
