CERUCHUS. 229 



male remarkably developed for a creature of its f-ize. They are 

 strongly bent beyond the base and then almost straight, and 

 there is a small internal tooth at the bend. The tijjs are not 

 forked in tlie usual way, but a little thickened and divided in 

 a manner curiously suggesting the pincers of a scorpion. 



The extreme flatness of the body is tlie feature which first 

 strikes the eye and tlie three basal joints of the tarsi are al^o 

 flattened, assuming a form not found in any other genus of 

 LrcAMD.i;, no doul)t indicating, like tlie flattened body, an 

 unusual mode of life. The sides of the head aie dilated, so that 

 the eyes are separated by as much as their owii diameter from 

 the outer edge. The prosternum is flattened between and behuid 

 the front coxae, so that the fore-legs are rather widely separated. 

 The antenna? are very slender, and the three terminal joints 

 form a club not much wider than the foot-stalk. 



The circumstances under which the unique specimen was 

 discovered have not been recorded, and nothing is known of 

 the habits of the insect. Its flattened form suggests that it 

 may lurk beneath the loose bark of logs, where scorpions are 

 also to be found. If this be so, it seems not ini])ossible that it 

 may have the habit of waving the mandibles in the manner of 

 a scor|)ion with its chelae, and that they may have an intimi- 

 dating effect. 



Subfamily ^Esalin^. 

 jEsalides, Lacord., Gen. Coleopt. iii, 1856, p. 39. 



This group consists of only a few genera and appears to be 

 primitive in its characters. It contains insects of rather small 

 size, and the dimoq)hism is in general not greatlj' developed, 

 although at its maximum hi the Indian representatives. The 

 shape of the bodj^ is convex and cylindrical, never at all 

 flattened or depresse<l, and the el}i:ra are generally striate and 

 frecjuently clothed with short setae, which may form a simple 

 pattern. The base of the prothorax closely fits the base of the 

 hind-body. There is a distinct labrum, not completely fused 

 with the head. The maxillae are reduced and not toothed . 



The few widely scattered members of this group are probably 

 the survivors of an anciently more numerous rfice. 



Genus CERUCHUS. 



Ceruchus Macl., Horie Ent. 1819, p. 115; Lacord., Gen. Coleopt. 

 iii, 1856, p. 40. 



Type, Lucanus tenebrioides F. 



Rxuige. Europe ; N. America ; Japan ; Western Cluna and 

 India. 



Rather cylindrical in shape, not at all depressed, the legs 

 and antemias short in both sexes. Scape of antenna curvet! , 



