THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



197 



THE COLEOPTERA OF CANADA. 

 II. The Scarabaeid.^ of Ontario and Quebec. 



BY H. F. WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



The bee'cles of this family are more characteristic of Southern latitudes 

 than of cold climes like Canada ; of about six hundred species known 

 from America, north of Mexico, only ninety-six are recorded from 

 the Provinces which form the subject of the present paper. From all 

 other families they may at once be known by the antennas, termi- 

 nating in a club composed of lamellae or plates, which are capable of 

 close opposition or of separation at the will of the insect. The antennae 

 of the Lucanids somewhat resemble them, but the leaves (or rather plates) 

 are not capable of being closely brought together. The only insect in 

 this country which would be likely to cause a doubt to arise in the mind 

 of anyone is Nicagus, described below, in which the lamellse are not 

 quite approximated on their faces, but the form is decidedly not that of a 

 Lucanid, and no serious trouble would follow its study. The legs of all 

 the Scarabaeidfe are fossorial, often very highly so. 



The larvae are elongate fleshy grubs (fig 20, 2, larva oi Lachnosterna), 

 usually whitish in colour, with a black or brown head ; the segments of 



the body are transversely 

 wrinkled and the tip of the 

 abdomen bent under, so 

 that when taken from the 

 ground the larva lies on its 

 side. In motions they are 

 slow, in feeding habits di- 

 verse — those of the Laparo- 

 sticti or Coprophaga living 

 in dung or other refuse 

 matter, such as old skins 

 and feathers, thus render- 

 ing man much valuable aid 

 as scavengers, by removing 

 from sight and smell a great 

 deal of filth. The larvge of the Melolonthini feed on roots of living 

 plants, and often do vast damage, while those of the Pleurosticti eat 

 various substances — some of them roots, others old dung, others rotten 

 wood, while still otherS occur in the nests of ants. 



Fig. 20. 



