CLASS I. INSECTA: ORDER 1. COLEOPTERA. 



649 



Other species, like the common Geotrupidce and Aphodiidce, frequently met with in Europe, 



are contented with depositing 



their eggs in the midst of a 

 plentiful supply of food. 



The forms of some of the 

 Lamellicorn insects are ex- 

 tremely curious, and many of 

 the larger tropical species are 

 furnished with enormous horns 

 on the head and thorax, 

 which give them a singular 

 appearance. The Hercules 

 Beetle — Dynastcs Hercules — 

 is one of the most remarkable 

 of these. It is a native of 

 Brazil, sometimes attaining a 

 length of five inches. (See p. 

 642.) The Scarabceus Hncma. 

 however, of the East Indies, is 

 nearly twice as long, its color 

 The S. naskornis is a European species, common in gardens, and is 



noted for a pair of curious 



TUMBLE-BUGS. 



being: of a brilliant brown. 





THE SCAKABA;US NASICORNIS. 



conical horns lapon its head. 

 The Passalus interrujHus 

 of Linnaeus is a large species 

 of beetle, nearly two inches 

 long, of a shiny-black color, 

 the larva feeding on roots, 

 and the insect being met 

 with in the trunks of trees 

 and on sugar-canes. It is 

 common in the West Indies. 

 (See p. 541.) Other species 

 of Passalus are found in New 

 Holland, India, and South 

 America. 



THE STERNOXIA. 



In the Sternoxia — a term meaning sharp-breasted — the prosternum is produced in front into 



a lobe, and behind into a spine, which is received 

 in a small cavity of the mesosternum. By the 

 assistance of this apparatus — the spine being drawn 

 out of its groove and then suddenly brought into it 

 again — many of these insects, as the Hlateridce, are 

 enabled to execute considerable springs, when laid 

 upon their backs, and are hence called Spring 

 Beetles or Snapping Bugs. The larvae of some 

 species are wood-borers; those of others live in 

 rotten wood ; and some inhabit the ground, feeding 

 upon the roots of plants. One of the latter, well known to agriculturists, is the Wire- Worm, 

 often producing great destruction of the crops of Indian corn, grass, and all cereals. The Mater 

 striatus, of Cayenne, is an inch long, of a black color, and striped upon the back. 



Some of these insects are luminous in the dark. These, including half a dozen species, and 

 arranged by Emmons under the genus Lampyris, are the Fire-Flies, or Lightning- Bugs, 



THE ELATEB STEIATUS. 



