4 LAMELLICORNIA. [Lucanide. 
represented by one species, are found in Britain; they are, as a rule, 
very conspicuous insects, and are chiefly remarkable for the great 
development of the mandibles in the male ; in spite, however, of their 
formidable appearance, the mandibles of the male are not as strong or as 
capable of inflicting a severe wound as the short and comparatively in- 
significant-looking mandibles of the female. The following are the chief 
characteristics of the family:—Antenne with a pectinate club, usually 
geniculate, 10-jointed ; labrum nearly always connate with the clypeus ; 
mandibles often much developed; maxille with two lobes; anterior 
coxal cavities closed behind; mesosternum short, metasternum large, 
epimera of mesosternum reaching the cox; elytra rounded at apex, 
covering abdomen; abdomen composed of five, rarely six, free segments; 
tarsi 5-jointed, the last joint very long. 
The insects belonging to this family are almost entirely wood-feeders, 
but occasionally appear to be carnivorous; Professor Westwood (Classi- 
fication, i. 157) refers to two cases, in one of which a Lucanus was 
observed descending a tree with a caterpillar in its jaws, and in the 
other a specimen of Doreus parallelopipedus was found in the act of 
biting a Helops caraboides for the purpose of sucking its fluid. 
The larva of Lucanus cervus has been described by several writers ; it is white with 
ferruginous head, nearly cylindrical, and of a soft fleshy consistence ; the segments are 
not raised in three folds as in so many of the larve of the Scarabeeide ; the antennez 
are short, and the legs moderate ; the last segment of the abdomen is not so large as 
the preceding ; with the help of its powerful mandibles it gnaws its way through the 
wood upon which it feeds; when full fed it forms a kind of cocoon out of the minute 
chips or dust which it has gnawed, and in this undergoes its transformation to the 
pupa and the perfect insect, the large horns in the former being folded upon the 
breast and ventral face of the abdomen; the larva does not appear to come to 
maturity for several (some authors say as muny as six) years; occasionally it does 
considerable damage by gnawing into the roots as well as into the solid wood (wv. 
Westwood, l.c. i. 188). 
The three British genera of the Lucanide may be distinguished as 
follows :— 
I. Eyes more or less divided; ligula and maxillw covered by 
the mentum; antenne geniculate; posterior femora ex- 
tending beyond margin of elytra. 
i. Eyes divided for scarcely half their diameter . . . . Lvoanus, L. 
ii. Kyes divided for nearly the whole of their diameter . Dorcus, MeLeay. 
II, Eyes entire ; ligula and maxilla not covered by mentum ; 
antenne straight; posterior femora not extending beyond 
Marpiuofielyiray, GL. Ss! ce sw Ck 6SINODENDRON, FE 
LUCANUWS, Linné, 
This genus contains about twenty species, four of which are found in 
Europe, and the rest occur in North America, India, China, Japan, &c.; 
our single species is the largest member of the Coleoptera that is found 
in Britain. 
