CHAPTER VIII. 



PECTINICORNES, OR COMB-HORNED BEETLES. 



According to the system of Lacordaire, the Beetles which next 

 come before us are gathered into a group called Pectinicornes. 

 This word signifies " combed horns/' and is given to these Beetles 

 on account of the rather peculiar structure of their antennae. 

 The tips of these organs are not pointed, nor simply clubbed, but 

 their four last joints are furnished with flattened projections 

 which stand apart from each other like the teeth of a comb. 

 There is no definite number for these projections, or " lamella?/' 

 as they are scientifically termed, and there are specimens in the 

 British Museum which show that even in the same species con- 

 siderable varieties may exist in this respect. 



In that collection is a series of the common Stag Beetle 

 (Lucanus cerviis), showing a most singular variation in the num- 

 ber and shape of the lamellae. Some have four lamellae, some 

 five, and some six. In some the lamellae are shortened so 

 regularly from the tip of the antennae towards its base, that it is 

 almost impossible to define where the ordinary joints end and the 

 lamellae begin. In some they are all very long, while in others 

 they are very short, while one specimen has them so large and 

 thick that they lose altogether the comb-like appearance, and 

 look like a thick, flattened, solid club. 



There is another peculiarity in these insects ; namely, the 

 extraordinary development -of the jaws in the males. Our own 

 Stag Beetle affords an excellent instance of this development, 

 but some of the insects which will presently be mentioned show 

 an enlargement of jaw before which the mandible of the Stag 

 Beetle appears almost insignificant. So different an aspect is 

 given to the males by their large jaws that they scarcely seem to 

 belong to the same species as the females, and, indeed, in the 



