124 • INSECTS AT HOME. 



larvoe often do very great harm, their powerful jaws enabling 

 them to eat into the living as well as the dead wood, and into 

 the roots themselves. It remains in the larval state for at least 

 four, and perhaps as much as six years, and when it is about to 

 become a pupa, makes for itself a cocoon out of the wood-chips 

 with which it is surroimded. 



The jaws of the male are quite as formidable weapons as 

 they appear to be, the muscles which close them being very 

 powerful, and their sharp and strong teeth inflicting a severe 

 bite. Mr. Curtis mentions that the jaws retain the power of 

 biting long after the head has been separated from tlie body, and 

 that in one case when a severed head of a Stag Beetle was taken 

 home in the evening, it retained on the following morning 

 sufficient power to pinch the finger. Still, severe as is the 

 bite of the male Stag Beetle, that of the other sex is still more 

 severe, the points of the strong, sharp, curved jaws being made 

 to meet in the flesh. 



At first sight it would appear that the insect must be a car- 

 nivorous one, and that such formidable weapons were used for 

 the purpose of capturing and destroying other insects. In 

 reality the Stag Beetle is essentially a feeder on juices, which 

 it obtains by wounding twigs and fruits \vith the sharp teeth 

 of its mandibles. If kept in captivity, it will feed on moistened 

 sugar, and has a curious way of flattening itself on the ground, 

 in order to reach the sugar with its tongue. Indeed, it only 

 uses its jaws as weapons of offence, when it fights for the pos- 

 session of the female, or when it is captured and wishes to 

 escape. It will bite fiercely in such a case, and, if kept alive, 

 will resent with open jaws any attempt to disturb it. 



On Woodcut XIII. Fig. 3, is represented an insect which is 

 evidently allied to the Stag Beetle, the short, powerful, toothed 

 mandibles looking exactly like the tips of the Stag Beetle's 

 jaws. This Beetle is called scientifically Dorcus 'parallelopi- 

 joedus, but, I believe, has no popular name. The word Dorcus, 

 in Grreek, signifies an antelope, the name being given to the 

 insect in consequence of the shape of its jaws, which are 

 thought to resemble the horns of the antelope, as those of the 

 preceding insect resemble the horns of the stag. The specific 

 name is in allusion to its peculiar form. 



