THE HERCULES BEETLE. 131 



grey green, much wrinkled, and have a few black spots scat- 

 tered over them. It has very large and powerful wings, which 

 are needed in order to bear so bulky an insect through the air. 



Some persons state that Dynastes Hercules saws off the 

 branches of trees by grasping them between the head and the 

 thorax and flying round and round the branch, the opposed pro- 

 jections acting like the teeth of a saw. The same story is 

 narrated of other Beetles, but there is no direct evidence on the 

 subject. It is certain, however, that the insect lives on the 

 mucilaginous juices of certain plants, but whether it wounds 

 those plants in order to obtain the juice is very doubtful. 



According to Lacordaire, the habits of the various Dynastidas 

 are very similar. During the daytime they are seldom seen, 

 having a habit of concealing themselves in dark hiding-places, 

 or at most crawling in the recesses of woods. By night they 

 come from their concealment and fly about the trees, in search, 

 as M. Lacordaire thinks, of food, but, as Mr. West wood more 

 justly observes, of their mates. It is rather remarkable that, just 

 as British Piose Beetles are sometimes found in ants' nests, some 

 of their gigantic exotic relatives are found in similar places. 



On the same plate, Fig. 3, may be seen an allied insect named 

 Golofa hastatus. The Beetles belonging to this genus have been 

 separated from the genus Dynastes on account of the formation 

 of the tarsi. In the males the tarsi of the first pair of legs are 

 very long, and so formed that they must always be curved when 

 extended. The head and thorax are. both armed with horns 

 more or less upright. 



The present insect, which is a native of Mexico, has both 

 these horns very curiously developed. That on the thorax rises 

 quite upright, and is slightly bent forward at the tip, which is 

 diamond-shaped, or like the head of a spear. ' It is for this 

 reason that the species has been given the name of hastatus. 



The head horn, though curving slightly upwards, is directed 

 forwards, and is most curiously formed. The projecting portion 

 is deeply grooved along the middle, and its edges are cut into a 

 series of bold teeth, from among which project a number of stiff, 

 bristle-like hairs. Its length is rather more than three-quarters 

 of an inch. The colour of the thorax is dark chestnut, except 

 the horn, which is black and very shining, and the greater part 



K 2 



