COLEOPTERA 

 Family LUCANID^ 



523 



The Stag-Beetles 



The stag-beetles are so called on account of their large mandibles 

 which in the males of some species are branched like the antlers of 

 a stag. They and the members of the following family are dis- 

 tinguished by the form of the club of the antennae, which is composed 

 of flattened plates ; but these plates are not capable of close appo- 

 sition, as in the antennae of the lamellicorn beetles. In the stag-beetles 

 the mentimi is not emarginate and the ligula is covered by the 

 mentimi or is at its apex. 



The adult beetles are found in or beneath decaying logs and 

 stumps. Some of them are attracted, at night, to lights. They are 

 said to live on honeydew and the exudations 

 of the leaves and bark of trees, for procur- 

 ing which the brushes of their jaws and lips 

 seem to be designed; but it seems probable 

 that some species, at least, feed upon de- 

 composing wood. They lay their eggs in 

 crevices of the bark of trees, especially near 

 the roots. The larvas feed upon juices of 

 wood in various stages of decay. They re- 

 semble the well-known larvae of May -beetles. 

 The family is a small one; only thirty 

 North American species are now known. 

 The common stag-beetle, Lucanus dania. 

 — The most common of our stag-beetles is 

 this species (Fig. 631). It flies by night 

 with a loud buzzing sound, and is often S- o3i- 



attracted to lights in houses. The larva is a large, whitish grub re- 

 sembling the larvae of the lamellicorn beetles. It is found in the 

 trunks and roots of old, partially decayed trees, especially apple, 

 cherry, willow, and oak. The specimen figured here is a male; in 

 the female the mandibles are shorter. 



The giant stag-beetle, Lucanus elaphus, is a large 

 species foimd in the South. It measures from 35 mm. 

 to 50 mm. in length, not including the mandibles, 

 which in the case of the male are more than half as long 

 as the bod}^ and branched like the antlers of a stag. 

 The antelope-beetle, Dorcus parallelus. — This beetle 

 is somewhat smaller than the species of Lucanus, and 

 differs in having the wing-covers marked with longi- 

 tudinal striae and the teeth on the outside of the fore 

 tibiae much smaller (Fig. 632). 

 Several species of stag-beetles that are much smaller than Dorcus 

 are found in this country. 



Fig. 632. 



