THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Vol. 1 6 November, 1920 No. 8 



The Largest Beetle in North America. 



Dr. R. W. Shufeldt 

 Washington, D. C. 



We have a good many big beetles in this country; but there is 

 not a species among them that in any way approaches in size the 

 Spotted Horn-Beetle of the Southern States— the scientific name 

 of which is Dynastes tityrus. 



Not long ago the United States National Museum kindly loaned 

 me a specimen of this handsome insect for a special purpose, as I 

 did not happen to have one in my own collection to photograph. 

 It made a good subject, and a reproduction, natural size, from my 

 negative illustrates this brief article. 



This Horn-beetle is the largest of all North American Coleoptera 

 — indeed, there are but few cf greater size in all the world. As will 

 be noted from my illustration, the male — for it is a male — of this 

 species has on his head a conspicuous forward-projecting horn, 

 with a still larger one on the thorax. These horns curve slightly 

 towards each other, and are absent in the female, she having only a 

 small knob on her head. He also supports two much smaller 

 horns on the thorax. 



The DynastincB is represented by several other large beetles, and 

 they are generally known as Rhinoceros beetles — a very good name 

 for them. In south Europe there are a few small representatives 

 of them, but none in Great Britain; and excepting these, the 

 remainder of the subfamily is found only in warm climates. 



Most of them, if not all, possess, I believe, a very disagreeable, 

 musky odor, and this is likewise true of their larvaj, which latter 

 feed upon the wood of various trees. 



Our D. tityrus, on transforming frcm the pupa, is unspotted, and 

 of a untinted, dark brown color; as it matures, however, it 

 assumes a greenish gray shade, while irregular black spots of 

 various size are scattered over the thick and shiny elytrac, With- 



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