142 COLEOPTEllA. 



(Lucanus cervus) is the largest of the British Beetles, 

 being nearly three inches long, though there is great 

 variation in this respect, some males being not half the 

 size of others ; these have comparatively weak jaws. 

 The larva lives in rotten wood, such as the oak and the 

 willow, and continues in that state for four years or 

 more ; then spinning a cocoon out of the wood chips 

 with which it is surrounded, it enters on its pupal stage. 

 The Stag-beetle feeds on the juices of plants, which it 

 obtains by bruising, with its strong jaws, the twiors and 

 fruit of trees ; it can bite severely, and it is said the jaws 

 can retain that power after the head has been severed from 

 the body. It is common in some parts of the South of 

 England, but does not occur in Shropshire. The common 

 Dung-beetle {Geotrupes stercorarius), that " wheels his 

 droning flight," and occasionally comes in contact with 

 your face, belongs to the Lamellicornes or beetles with 

 leaf-like aatennse; as does also the Cock-chafer or May- 

 bug, and the Rose-beetle {Getonia aurata). This latter 

 insect, of a bright shining green colour glossed with gold 

 above, and polished copper beneath, is not unfrequently 

 found in roses ; it occurs also in other flowers, as elder 

 flowers and thistle flowers (Plate VI., Fig. 3). 



In the sub-section, Priocerata, the antennse are 

 generally serrated or toothed like a saw ; hence the 

 Greek word. Skip-jack beetles, Glow-worms, the long 

 Soft-bodied-beetles, popularly called "soldiers and sailors," 

 belong to this division. The Skip-jacks (Elateridai) are 

 long narrow hard-bodied beetles, with heads sunk up to 

 the eyes in the thorax ; they are well known to all 

 school-boys as amongst the greatest " shammers " in the 

 insect world. If disturbed on a leaf, immediately Skip- 



