282 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



use of these great mandibles, the growth and size of which dififer in 

 the individuals of the same species. The female beetles do not 

 have these large mandibles, and the structures are of ordinary- 

 proportions in them, being furnished with teeth which enable 

 them to be used as leaf-cutters. The Lucanidce are found in 

 many parts of the world, but their species are most abundant in 

 the East Indies, the islands of the Straits of Sunda, and the 

 Moluccas, whence they are occasionally imported into Europe. 

 These insects, which inhabit woods, and only fly in the evening, 

 are difficult to collect in those countries where no one cares to 

 spend a night in the middle of forests ; so that these Coleoptcra, 

 Avhich are very beautiful, and whose shapes are very remarkable, 

 are much prized by collectors. 



The genus Ljicamis has been greatly subdivided, but it is not 

 necessary to describe it, because the type of it is so well known 

 under the form of the Great Stag Beetle, Liicaniis ccrvus, our 

 largest beetle. When in the larval condition it lives in the trunks 

 ■of old decaying oaks, and it is very common in some districts. 

 The beetles fly in the hot evenings of the summer months, and 

 their large mandibles render them very visible. The accom- 

 panying engraving of the metamorphoses of the stag beetle re- 

 presents a large male upon the trunk of a tree ; the mandibles 

 are separated, and their dentations are very visible. On the right 

 hand a female beetle is upon a leaf, and her small mandibles 

 make her look like another species, especially as the head is so 

 much narrower than that of the male. Low down in the picture, 

 on the left hand side, there is a nymph in a sort of cocoon hol- 

 lowed out of the wood. It is a male, and the future mandibles 

 can readily be seen. It is something like the perfect insect, and 

 at the same time resembles the larva. The larva is figured to 

 the right, and its sharp, trenchant jaws are strikingly suited for 

 their purpose. The development of the fore legs is worthy of 

 notice, and so is that of the spiracles which are so very visible 

 on the sides of the body. It is said that these insects are sbc 

 years in coming to their full growth. Some very natural affini- 

 ties connect the LiicanidcB with the HistcridcE, which are short 

 insects, with broad bodies and antennas ended by a little solid 

 club-shaped mass ; their nervous system is rather less centralised 



