558 INSECTA ORDER COLEOPTERA. 



vulgaris and hippocastani (Fabr.) are about an inch long, and are reddish' 

 brown above, and black beneath, more or less clothed with 

 Cock -Chafers, whitish pubescence ; the abdomen ends in a blunt projec- 

 tion. They are vety destructive insects. The larva, which 

 is called the white grub, lives in the ground for three years, feeding on the 

 roots of plants ; and the beetle feeds on the leaves of trees. A similar but 

 smaller species, Rhizotrogus solstitialis (Linn.), is common in many places, 

 flying round trees in the evening. 



The Dynastidce include the largest and most strangely-shaped of the 

 Lamellicornes, but they are not British, though one or two species are found 

 in the south of Europe. The larvae feed, like those of the stag-beetles, in 

 the wood of trees. The largest species are found in South America, the males 



of the Her- 

 cules beetle, 

 T)ynastes her- 

 cules (Linn.), 

 and one or two 

 other species, 

 having a huge 

 horn, nearly 

 as long as the 



Fig. 31. HERCULES BEETLE (Dynastes hercules). rest of the 



body, project- 

 ing from the front of the thorax, and curving downwards to meet a similar 

 horn which projects from the front of the head, and curves upwards. It is 

 black, with greenish-grey elytra, and is represented of half the natural size 

 in the accompanying illustration. 



To the Cetoniidce belong the great Goliath beetles of Africa, probably the 

 bulkiest, but not the largest of all beetles. They are black, brown, or 

 reddish, with longitudinal white bands on the thorax. Our 

 Rose-Chafers, most familiar representative of this family is the rose-chafer, 

 Cetonia aurata (Linn.), the beautiful, round, green, white- 

 spotted beetle which we so often find nestling in roses and other flowers. 



The stag-beetle, Lucanus cervus (Linn.), is the typical representative of the 

 important family of the Lucanidce. It is black, with reddish-brown elytra, 

 and the large males are often two inches long, having very 

 Stag-Beetles. large branching mandibles ; in the females the mandibles 

 are comparatively small. The mandibles of the male of this 

 and other species of Lucanidce vary very much in size and in development, 

 but conform to certain recognised patterns, commencing with small males in 

 which the mandibles are scarcely more developed than in the female, and 

 proceeding to the largest males, in which the mandibles are very large and 

 branched. However, our common stag-beetle never attains the great de- 

 velopment of mandibles which is noticed in some allied East Indian species. 

 As already mentioned, the larvae feed in the wood of trees. 



The Serricornes are another group of plant-feeding beetles, comprising 

 (besides others) the two important families of Buprestidce. and Elatcridw. 

 These are long and narrow beetles with hard integuments, and generally with 

 more or less pectinated antennae. The BupresticUe have no power of leaping, 

 but many of the foreign species are remarkable for their brilliant golden- 

 green colour ; and as they often measure nearly two inches in length they 

 form very conspicuous objects in collections of foreign insects. The British 



