﻿122 BRITISH BEETLES. 



ment of the head and its appendages in most of its mem- 

 bers, this family has been raised by M. Lacordaire to the 

 rank of a section, equal in value to the Lamellicornes, 

 under the name of Pectinicornes. It must remain, how- 

 ever, for future observers to determine whether this 

 elevation be warranted ; for, until all the known Lamel- 

 licornes are dissected, it cannot be considered proved 

 that there exists no species of them with a nervous 

 system as in the Lucanidce; it is moreover known that 

 there is a genus of the latter family [Passalus) wherein 

 the appendages of the head are not developed as in the 

 other Lucanida, and whose nervous system is inter- 

 mediate between the two above-mentioned conditions; 

 there being also some of their larvie, which, whilst they 

 have no transverse folds, still have the anal orifice trans- 

 verse; thus uniting the two forms of difference. lu 

 Lucanus cervus, moreover, the larva exhibits traces of 

 these folds on the front of its body. There is, also, 

 another genus [Sinodendron) of the Lucanidte, which 

 has an excess of development in the thorax of the male, 

 as in many of the species of Lamellicornes. 



The Lucanidoi have ten-jointed antennae, with a long 

 basal joint ; the ligula membraneous or leathery, bilobed, 

 ciliated, and situated on the inner side of the mentum, 

 except in Sinodendron, where it is situated at the apex ; 

 the mandibles exposed, and often attaining an enormous 

 size in the male; the outer lobe of the maxillse not 

 toothed, and ending in a pencil of hair ; the sides of the 

 elytra covering the abdominal epipleura ; the prosternum 

 large ; the intermediate coxie transverse ; and the abdo- 

 men composed of five ventral segments, with an extra 

 segment in the male. 



Lucanus cervus, the '' stag-beetle/' is well known to 



