70 



FAMILY LUCANIDAE 



There is an extraordinary variation in the size of the beetles of one and 

 the same species. This great variation has been noticed in some Ceram- 

 bycidae (fig. 32), and also in the Buprestidae. 



The beetles are usually black or greenish black, and occasionally 

 brownish in colour ; rather flat ; the head large and prominent, with divided 

 eyes ; the prothorax very large, squarish in shape ; the elytra large, con- 

 stricted behind, and shining ; the legs long, with elongated spined tibiae, and 

 long tarsi in which the five joints are easily discernible. 



The larva is a large, cumbersome, whitish-yellow grub, with well-marked 

 horny head, jaws, and antennae. The legs are long and stout, the front 



ones not short as in Passalidae. 

 The large body is soft, fleshy, the 

 posterior segments being curved, the 

 last two swollen in a bag-shaped 

 manner. 



The pupa is thick, fleshy, and 

 stout ; whitish in colour. 



This family of beetles lives in the 

 mountainous forest areas of the coun- 

 try, being especially plentiful in the 

 Himalaya. They have not been found 

 in the forests of the plains. They do 

 not infest living or freshly dead trees, 

 the larvae, in spite of their powerful 

 jaws, being unable, owdng to the 

 swollen soft bag-like abdomen, to 

 move about in hard timber. All 

 stages of the insects are invariably 

 found in decaying timber in the 

 forest. The beetles fly at night ; 

 but, as Himalayan habitues well 

 know, are often to be found on shady 

 woodland paths or on tree-trunks in 

 the shade in the day-time. 



Fig. 37.~nnaMus Innifcr. Hope. . ^ ^^w of the species of trees 



The Stag Beetle. $. Himalaya. inhabited by this family are known. 



LUCANUS. 



Two species of the genus have been reported from the forests. 

 Lucanus lunifer, Hope. 



References. — Hope in Royle, Himal. Ins. 55, t. 9, f. 4 ; Thompson, Rep. Ins. destr. Woods and For. 1868. 



Habitat.— Himalaya. 



Trees Attacked.— Moru Oak [Quercns dilatata) ; Ban Oak {Quercus 

 incana). Western Himalaya. 



