188 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



distinctions (neglected by many subsequent writers, who considered 

 the female as a distinct species which they named inermis) were ex- 

 hibited. The eggs are of an oval form ; the larva is long, thick, nearly 

 cylindric, of a white colour, and fleshy consistence, the segments not 

 being transversely impressed as in the Scarabseideous larva^ ; the body 

 being curved, so that the insect is compelled to lie upon its side ; the 

 head is horny, rust-coloured, and furnished \yith two powerful jaws, 

 which it employs in gnawing the wood upon which it feeds, and which 

 it reduces to a kind of tan ; the antennee are short. It has six reddish 

 scaly articulated legs attached to the first three segments of the body ; 

 the terminal segment is entire and not so large as the preceding. 

 When arrived at its full size it forms a cocoon, similar to those of the 

 Prionidae, formed of the minute chips or dust which it has gnawed. 

 In this cocoon it undergoes its transformations to the pupa and perfect 

 states*; the large horns of the male being in the former folded 

 upon the breast and belly, protecting the antennae and legs, the ab- 

 domen being terminated by two spines. It has been supposed that 

 the larva of this insect, which chiefly lives in the willow and oak, re- 

 maining in that state several (six, according to Rosel) years, is the 

 animal so much esteemed by the Romans as a delicacy, and named 

 Cossus. The injury which they cause is often very considerable, 

 boring not only into the solid wood but also into the roots of the tree. 

 Rdsel's figures have been copied by Herhst, Natursi/st. (vols. iii. and iv.), 

 and by Shaw in his Zoology. M. Blot has published some observations 

 on the larva of L. Cervus in the Mem. Soc. Linn, de Calvados, vol i. ; 

 and it is also figured by Posselt in his Beitrage zur Anat. der Insekt 

 (Friburg, 1804, pi. 2. f. i.), and by Albrecht in the Mem. Acad. Nat. 

 Cur. Bonn, vol. vi. pi. 5. Elaborate descriptions and figures of the 

 larvce of two Javanese species of Lucanus, are given by M. De Haan in 

 his memoir upon the larvtE of the Lamellicornes published in the 

 Nouvelles Ann. du Mas. (vol. iv. p. 125.), wherein their chief dif- 

 ferences from the other Lamellicorn larvae (except those of Aphodius) 

 are stated to consist in the body being destitute of the transverse fold- 

 ings so conspicuous in the latter, the longitudinal form of the anus and 

 the bilobed maxillae. Other intei-nal distinctions are also noticed. 

 The Rev. W. T. Bree has given an account of the larva of Dorcus 



* It would appear from a communication made by M. Audouin to the Ent. 

 Soc. of France [Ann. vol. ii. p. 71. App.}, that the insect remains a consicleraI)le 

 time in the cocoon after attaining the imago state. 



