COLEOPTERA 



141 



and the tarsi are five-jointed, with a long slender spur projecting between the 

 claws of the terminal joint, and carrying at the end two long bristles. The male 

 insects are remarkable for the massive development of their jaws, which in many 

 cases are forked and branched. The common stag-beetle (Lucanus cervus), one of 

 the largest of European beetles, may, in the case of full-sized males, attain a 

 length of over 2 inches, or, if the mandibles be included, more than 3 inches. It is 

 most abundant in the neighbourhood of oak-woods, and in England is not 

 uncommon in the southern counties, where the males may be often observed on 

 the wing on fine summer evenings, flying with a loud hum. 



The Passalidce are a small family of about two hundred known species, which 

 are almost entirely restricted to the warmer parts of the world, the greater pro- 



y 



1, Larva. 



GREAT BLACK WATER-BEETLE (nat. size). 



2. Male. 3, Female with egg-cocoou. 



portion being found in America. In the form of the antennae and in some other 

 respects they show an affinity with the Lucanidce, though easily distinguished by 

 the character of the mouth-parts. The ligula is horny, and lies in a deep quad- 

 rangular emargination in the mentum ; the lobes of the maxillse both resemble 

 claws ; and the mandibles offer a peculiarity of structure met with in no other 

 family, each being provided with a movably articulated tooth placed close to the 

 basal molar surface. 



The Lamellicornia comprising the burrowing-beetles, cockchafers, and a host 

 of other forms, differing both in habits and external structure are represented in 

 all parts of the world, though relatively less numerous in Australia than in the 

 other great regions. We have only to mention the goliath-beetles of West Africa, 

 and the elephant and hercules-beetles of Tropical America, to indicate the great 

 size attained by some of the species ; while as regards beauty and brilliancy of 



