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CHAPTER VII. 



LAMELLICORNES. 



THIS chapter will be given to that very important 

 group of insects, the LAMELLICORN Beetles, popularly 

 called CHAFERS. The former term is composed of 

 two Latin words signifying ' leaf-horned,' and is 

 applied to these Beetles because the club of the 

 antennse is composed of a series of flat plates or 

 leaves, which are movable like the rays of a fan, 

 except in the Stag Beetle and its kin. The antennae 

 are always short, with a long or large basal joint, and 

 set near the eyes and in front of them. If the reader 

 should have skill to open an insect, he is strongly 

 recommended to do so, in order to see the singular 

 manner in which the large and apparently heavy 

 bodies of these insects are lightened by a great 

 number of air-vessels connected with the breathing 

 tubes. These air-vessels extend all over the body, 

 and are found even in the head. 



The larvae are fat, fleshy, soft-skinned grubs, feed- 

 ing on vegetable matter, mostly, though not always, 

 in a state of decay ; and the last segment of the body 

 is much larger than the others. After they are full- 

 fed, they make cocoons from the chips of wood or 



