THE LAMELLICORNIA. 105 



Platysomd) are found under the bark of trees, or in 

 fungi. The larvae are soft grubs, with the head and 

 prothorax scaly, and furnished with six legs; they 

 are found in the same situations as the perfect insects. 



This is indeed very commonly the case amongst 

 the Coleoptera, and especially in those groups to 

 which we have hitherto directed our attention; but 

 in those which we have still to investigate, we shall 

 often find the habits of the imago departing more or 

 less from those of the larva, sometimes throughout 

 the whole of a tribe, and sometimes only in some of 

 its members. The latter is the case with the next 

 group of Beetles, some of which pass nearly the 

 whole of their existence in the same habitation, whilst 

 others, on attaining their perfect state, quit the locali- 

 ties in which they have spent their larval existence. 



These insects, which in many respects appear to be 

 closely allied to the Histers in the preceding group, 

 are called the LAMELLICORNIA, from the structure of 

 their antennae, which are terminated by a club, com- 

 posed of from three to seven joints, each of which 

 bears a more or less elongated leaf-like process on 

 its inside. In the most characteristic species of this 

 group, these leaves of the club are capable of being 

 separated and closed like the leaves of a book ; but in 

 some cases they always diverge more or less from one 

 another, so as to give a pectinated or comb-like 

 structure to the tip of the antennae. Like the majo- 

 rity of the preceding insects, the Lamellicornia have 

 the tarsi composed of five joints; their bodies are 

 robust, and their legs well developed, strong, and 

 usually furnished with spines on the edges of the 



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