LAMELL1CORNIA ; SCARAB JEI. 127 



same tastes as their larvae ; whilst the larvae of some which feed 

 upon the roots of plants or rotten wood confine themselves, when 

 mature, to the sweet juices of flowers, which they lap up with 

 their delicately fringed jaws. This tribe receives its name from 

 the peculiar conformation of the antennas, which terminate in a 

 mass formed of from three to seven joints ; these are flattened 

 into plates or lamellae, and are sometimes arranged like a fan or 

 the leaves of a book, sometimes in the manner of a comb, and 

 sometimes inclosing one another. The tribe is divided into 

 two principal sections, the Scarabcei and the Lucani. 



710. Of the Scarabcei, one subdivision, including the sacred 

 Beetle of the Egyptians (Fig. 443), feed principally upon the 

 excrements of various animals ; and they inclose their eggs in 

 balls of the same (whence they have been called Pilularii), 

 which they roll along with their hind feet, several often being 

 in company, until they reach the hole in which these are to be 

 deposited. The majority of the dung-eating species, however, 

 do not take so much trouble in providing a shelter for their 

 young, but content themselves with depositing their eggs in the 

 freshly dropped excrements of the larger animals, where they and 



FIG. 443ATEUCHT78 (SCARA- FlO. 444. GEOTRUPES 8TERCORAMITS. 



BJEDS) ^QYPTIORTJM. 



their larvae may be found in great abundance. Of these we 

 have a characteristic example among British species, in the 

 Geotrupes stercorarius, the common Dor or Shard-borne Beetle : 



