CHAPTER VII. 



LAMELLIC0RNE8. 



This chapter will be given to that very important group of 

 insects, the Lamellicorn Beetles, popularly called Chafers. 

 The former term is composed of two Latin words signifying 

 'leaf-horned,' and is applied to these Beetles because the. club 

 of the antennge is composed of a series of flat plates or leaves, 

 which are movable like the* rays of a fan, except in the Stag 

 Beetle and its kin. The antennae are always short, with a long 

 or large basal joint, and set near the eyes and in front of them. 

 If the reader should have skill to open an insect, he is strongly 

 recommended to do so, in order to see the singular manner in 

 which the large and apparently heavy bodies of these insects 

 are lightened by a great number of air-vessels connected with 

 the breathing tubes. These air-vessels extend all over the 

 body, and are found even in the head. 



The larvae are fat, fleshy, soft-skinned grubs, feeding on 

 vegetable matter, mostly, though not always, in a state of 

 decay ; and the last segment of the body is much larger than 

 the others. After they are full-fed, they make cocoons from 

 the chips of wood or other fragments of the material on which 

 they have been feeding ; and therein await their change into 

 the pupal and perfect form. 



The first family of the Lamellicornes is the Cetoniida?, or 

 Eose Beetle family. We have but few examples of these 

 beautiful insects in England, and one or two of them are very 

 rare. In this family the antenna3 are short, and liave only ten 

 joints, three of them forming the club. The body is broad, 

 and the elytra are flattened and not quite long enough to reach 

 the end of the abdomen. A very familiar example of this 

 family is given on Plate V. Fig. 1, namely, the common Rose 

 Beetle {Cetonia aurata). 



