z LAMELLICGORNIA. 
as follows :—“ Sexual selection, which implies the possession of consi- 
derable perceptive powers and of strong passions, seems to have been 
more effective with the Lamellicorns than with any other family of 
beetles. With some species the males are provided with weapons for 
fighting ; some live in pairs, and show mutual affection ; many have the 
power of stridulating when excited ; many are furnished with the most 
extraordinary horns, apparently for the sake of ornament; and some, 
which are diurnal in their habits, are gorgeously coloured. Lastly, 
several of the largest beetles in the world belong to this family, which 
was placed by Linneus and Fabricius at the head of the order.” It does 
not, however, appear to be proved that any insects select their mates 
from any regard to personal appearance; in fact, in the case of the 
Lepidoptera the female evidently exercises no choice in the matter as far 
as has at present been observed, and until it be proved that inseets act 
in this matter as mammalia and birds undoubtedly do, the hypothesis of 
the horns of the Lamellicornia being ornaments gradually developing 
from sexual selection does not seem to be a sound one; at present, how- 
ever, their use has not been explained. 
This series of Coleoptera, as above mentioned, includes most of the 
largest beetles in the world, notably the great Goliath beetles, and 
others which nearly equal them in size; several authors have proposed 
to place them at the head of the whole order, partly on the ground of 
their size and development, and partly, in some cases, because of their 
internal structure ; the question, however, requires very careful con- 
sideration, and in the present state of our knowledge it is far better not 
to disturb the existing arrangement. 
The larve of the Lamellicornia are thick and fleshy; the head is corneous and 
rounded, without ocelli; the maxillz are composed of two lobes, which are either 
free or connate; theantenne are inserted at the sides of the head on a_ projection 
which looks like a first joint; the joints vary in number from three to five; the 
thoracic segments are of about the same length as the abdominal segments, and do 
not differ from them much in character ; the latter are nine in number, occasionally 
ten; the anal segment is as broad as the preceding, and is in many cases divided in 
the middle by a transverse furrow, so that it appears as if divided into two joints ; in 
the greater number of species the abdominal segments from the first to the seventh 
are divided into three raised folds or ‘‘ bourrelets,” which unite at the sides in a 
triangular tubercle bearing one of the stigmata; of these latter there are nine pairs 
in all, the first situated on the sides of the prothorax, and the eight others on the 
first eight abdominal segments, all on each side lying in the same horizontal line ; 
the legs are rather long, with the tarsi very small or completely wanting, in which 
case the tibiae bear a minute claw at apex, which, however, is often absent at least on 
the posterior legs ; the apex of the body is curved, so that the insect is not capable 
of walking on a flat surface; these larve feed on vegetable substances and dung, 
but occasionally on animal matter; those that live in wood or at the roots of plants 
and grass take three years or more to come to maturity, whereas the coprophagous 
species go through their metamorphoses in a very short time (v. Chapuis et Can- 
déze, Cat. des Larves des Coléoptéres, p. 112—115) 
Erichson divides the larve of the series as follows:— 
