212 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



there are certain tropical forms which demand attention from their enor- 

 mous size. These are the Goliath, Hercules, and elephant beetles of popu- 

 lar parlance. Our plate shows the male and female of a Central American 

 Hercules beetle, natural size. The differences between the two sexes are 

 very considerable, the male being provided with a most strange forceps, 

 produced by the forward growth of the top of the head and the thorax. 

 These are not jaws, as is frequently supposed, and have nothing to do with 

 eating. The Goliath beetles of western Africa are not quite so large, and 

 yet specimens have a length of four inches and a breadth of two. For 

 years these forms were among the greatest rarities in the entomologists' 

 collection, and specimens brought enormous prices — fifty pounds or more. 

 A missionary who spent many years on the Gaboon coast has told the 

 writer of his experience in collecting these forms. He would go out in 

 the morning with two or three negro boys, and carefully search the bushes 

 for these beetles. When one was found, he would place it on the head of 

 one of the boys, and the spiny legs becoming entangled in the wool, the 

 insect was held a safe captive until the return from the search. Then the 

 hair to which the insect was fastened was cut off, and the beetle was killed. 

 Our next group contains some small forms which make up for their 

 diminutive size by the amount of destruction they are able to accomplish. 



Fig. 208.— Museum pests : a, Anthrenus; b, Ptinus ; c, Dermestes, the bacon-beetle; d, Attagenaa. 



Indeed, they are among the most serious nuisances among the whole of the 

 beetles. Our cut represents three of the species, as well as a fourth form 

 referred to on a preceding page (p. 205). At the left, near the shank 

 of the rabbit's foot, is the museum-beetle whose ravages cause so much 

 annoyance in every collection ; and when it once gets entrance to a museum . 



