148 



ELEMENTARY ENTOMOLOGY 



Another group of this family, known as soldier-beetles, fly by day 

 and are commonly found feeding on pollen, which they carry from 

 flower to flower, thus aiding pollination. The common species are 

 yellowish with black markings and with a prominent head. The 

 larvae are predacious and are among the important enemies of the 

 larvae of the codling moth and plum curculio. 



The Leaf-Homed Beetles (Lamellicornia) 



The tribe of leaf-horned beetles includes two families in which 

 the terminal segments of the antennae are greatly expanded and 

 flattened, like plates or leaves, forming a club. 



The stag-beetles (Lucanidae). There are some fifteen species of 

 stag-beetles in this country, which receive their name from the 



FIG. 211. Stag-beetles. (Natural size) 

 At the left, Lucanus ehphas, male ; at the right, Lucanus ctama, male. 



enormous jaws of some of the males, which are branched so as to 

 have a fancied resemblance to the antlers of a stag. They are 

 large brown or black beetles, from an inch to an inch and a half 

 long, and the large mandibles have given them the name of " pinch- 

 ing-bugs." The beetles feed on sap and decaying wood, and the 

 larvae, which are much like white grubs, are found in decaying 

 trunks and stumps. A shining black species, bearing a short horn 



