STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ITO 



Family Lucandi.k. (Stag-beetles.) 



Platycems qiicrcus, Web. 



This species, which is much .smaller than the common stag-beetle, 

 {Lucanus damd), being only about two-fifths of an inch long, is distin- 

 guished by its thickened jaws, which are obtuse and many-toothed at the 

 tip. It is of a dark reddish brown or black color, with a brassy tinge ; 

 the wing-cases are marked with longitudinal punctured lines. 



It has been ob.served by Mr. Ayers, of Villa Ridge, eating out the 

 ends of new shoots and buds of young pear trees, and in this instance 

 doing considerable injury ; but it is not abundant, and this case appears 

 to have been an unusual one. The larva is unknown, but probably 

 resides in decaying wood. 



Spec. Char. Imago. — Antennrc with the first joint elongate, at the end of which 

 they are elisowed or bent, terminating at the tio with a kind of club composed of four 

 or five joints, which are enlarged on one side, somewhat resembling a comb ; mandiljles 

 thickened, obtuse, and many-toothed at the end; general color blackish or dark reddish 

 brown, with a brassy tinge-; mandibles as long as the head, a robust tooth on the inner 

 margin near the base, armed at the tip with about six small teeth ; exterior edge with a 

 rounded lobe at the base, and an elevated angle near the tip ; elytra obsoletely striate, 

 the strice or lines punctured ; anterior tibias with more than ten unequal very acute teeth ; 

 length, about two-fifths of an inch. 



Mclolonthidce. Leaf-chafers, May-beetles. 



These beetles have the antennae short, with a distinct club at the end 

 composed of three plate-like joints, which open like the leaves of a book. 

 The tip of the abdomen is always exposed, the extremity of the wing- 

 cases not curving down behind to cover it. As a general rule the species 

 are oblong, more or less cylindrical in form and fleshy, so that they fly 

 heavily, the abdomen hanging down. They are generally of a uniform 

 chestnut brown color. The claws of their feet are notched or split at the 

 tip like the point of a pen. 



In the perfect or beetle state they feed upon the leaves of fruit and 

 other trees, often doing serious damage ; their split claws admirably 

 adapting them to this mode of life. As evening and night is their usual 

 time of flying and feeding, the cause of the injury they do is often over- 

 looked by those unacquainted with their habits. 



The larvae, or worms from which they are produced, are thick, fleshy, 

 white grubs, with dark or brown heads ; they are generally enlarged more 

 or less towards the posterior end, the last segment being the largest and 

 marked with an indentation across the tip; they have the usual six tho- 

 racic legs, or legs on the first three segments ; their usual position is on 

 the side, and coiled in a semicircle ; the back is transversely wrinkled. 

 These have generally received the name "white grubs." Some of the 

 species remain in this state for three years, feeding upon the roots of 

 grasses and of other plants, such as strawberries, corn, vegetables, and 

 even nursery stock. 



