STAG BEETLE. 105 



described is a more effective instrument, as the 

 insects can be dug out of their shelter beneath the 

 surface of the earth. Forty species of Aphodius are 

 known to entomologists. 



THE family of the Lucanidat is represented in 

 England by three genera, but by very few species, 

 only one British species belonging to each genus. 

 This family may at once be known by the club of the 

 antennae, which, though formed of a series of plates, 

 is unlike that of the other Lamellicornes, in that the 

 plates cannot be folded together, and are arranged so 

 as to look as if the club were simply pectinated. 



In the males the mandibles are enormously 

 developed, and, in consequence of these distinctions, 

 many entomologists have thought that the Lucanidae 

 ought not to belong to the Lamellicornes, but to be 

 formed into a group by themselves. The name of 

 Pectinicornes, or 'combed antennae,' has been suggesteH 

 as an appropriate title. As to this proposed altera- 

 tion, Mr. Rye very judiciously remarks, that such a 

 change ought not to be made until all the known 

 Lamellicornes have been dissected, and their nervous 

 system examined. 



The genus Lucanus is distinguished by the 

 flattened body, the apparently pectinated four-jointed 

 club of the antennae, and the enormous jaws of the 

 male, which are often half as long as the head, 

 thorax, and body together. Our only British species 

 is the well-known STAG BEETLE (Lncanus cennis}, 

 which derives its popular name from the jaws of the 

 male, which look somewhat like the horns of a stag. 



