ON THE LAMELLICORNES. 5S1 



word signified o,v in his own language, and that he named it 

 thus from the name of the largest animal which he had seen ; 

 Nigidius, according to Pliny, was the first who gave the 

 name of Lucani to the horn-beetles. This name, as we see, 

 corresponds to the vulgar name oi Jlying bull, given in differ- 

 ent languages to the lucanus cervus. Dalechamp thinks 

 that the name lucanus was given to the horn-beetle only be- 

 cause this insect was very common amongst the Lucanians, a 

 people of Italy. But it is probable, after what we have 

 just said, that the Lucanians themselves were thus named, in 

 consequence of the great numbers of oxen which they reared 

 in their rich and abundant pasturages. 



As our author has omitted a detailed description of these 

 insects, it will be as well to give some notice of their exter- 

 nal anatomy in this place. 



The antennae being bent, and the final articulations ad- 

 vancing on the internal side in the form of parallel teeth, or 

 forming, when united, a knob more or less pectinate or ser- 

 rated, cause the lucani to be very easily distinguished from 

 the scarabaei of Linnaeus. The length of the first articula- 

 tion of these organs, and which, at its junction with the 

 following articulation, forms a sort of elbow ; the jaws ter- 

 minated in the manner of a brush or pencil ; the lingua 

 concealed behind the mentum, and terminated by two pieces, 

 each of which again imitates a small pencil, prevents us from 

 confounding this genus with that of passalus. By some of 

 these characters, as well as by its depressed form, it is also 

 removed from those of sinodendron and cEsalus. The jaws 

 of the lucani are covered at their base by the lingua, which 

 removes them from Lamprima, which, besides, has the 

 antennas terminated a little otherwise, the body more convex, 

 and some other peculiar traits. But they are not distinguished 

 rigorously from the platycerus of M. Latreille, but that the 

 lateral and anterior edges of the head are prolonged a little 



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