438 THE INSECT WOELD. 



tented to choose those types which are most prominent and most 

 characteristic. We will begin with the Scarab&ides, with their 

 heavy compact body, and short antennae, terminated by a foliaceous 

 club. It is to this tribe that belongs the beautiful Eose beetle 

 (Cetonia aurata), which lives on roses ; the Cockchafer (Melontha 

 vulgaris), the Scarabceus of the Egyptians, &c. 

 This is the most interesting tribe of the whole Order Coleoptera. 

 It corresponds with the great division of the Lamellicornes of 

 Latreille. This name of Lamellicornes was intended to remind us 

 of the arrangement into laminae, more or less close together, of the 

 club of the antennae of these insects. Many Scarabcei have their 

 mandibles membranous, or at least partially so, and always small. 

 This peculiarity corresponds to their habits. Never, indeed, do 

 they have to triturate hard bodies ; they all feed either on flowers, 

 on leaves, or on stercoraceous matter. Their larvae resemble each 

 other much, even those of families very widely differing from each 

 other in the perfect state. They are large, whitish worms, with 

 diaphanous skins, scaly heads, furnished with indented mandibles, 

 living in the ground or in rotten wood. The pupse are fat and 

 stumpy, and they already show the features of the perfect insect. 

 They make a chamber in which to undergo their changes. They 

 remain generally three years in the larva state. The duration of 

 the pupa is very short, as also is that of the perfect insect. The 

 differences of the sexes are often very marked on the exterior, by 

 protuberances, horns, &c., which constitute the distinctive orna- 

 ment of the males. 



In the group of Scarabceides we shall have to speak, above all, 

 of the Cetoniides, the Chafers, and the Scarabcei properly so called. 

 The family of Cetoniides is one of the most remarkable, on account 

 of the beauty of the insects which compose it and of the richness 

 of their metallic lustre, some being of great splendour, and others 

 having velvety tints. The larvae live in wood in a state of decom- 

 position, the perfect insects frequent flowers and like the sun. 



This family contains a great number of species, the type of 

 which is the Eose beetle (Cetonia aurata), of a beautiful green 

 colour shot with gold, with transverse whitish lines. The Eose 

 beetle frequents roses especially, of which it eats the petals 

 and the stamens. It is the Golden Melolontha of Aristotle, 



