ON THE LAMELLICORNES. 533 



tions of Degecr, on the melliferous juice which is spread over 

 the leaves of the oak. It appears, that the females employ 

 their mandibles in cutting the half-rotten wood, for the pur- 

 pose of placing their eggs more deeply there. These insects 

 cause very little injury to trees in their final state. But 

 in that of the larva, the mischief which they produce is often 

 very considerable. The larvae not only gnaw the dead wood, 

 but they also attack the living. They sojourn more fre- 

 quently in the roots than in the trunks and branches, so that 

 if tlie larvae of the lucani do not cause the oaks quickly to 

 perish, at all events they hasten their destruction. They ad- 

 vance the period of their dissolution by rotting the trunk, or 

 a portion of the roots. 



The lucani are seen to fly principally towards the evening 

 around old trees. They form a numerous genus, the greater 

 part of Avhich is foreign to European climates. 



The female of lucanus cervus is so much smaller than the 

 male, and differs also so much in other characteristics, that some 

 entomologists have doubted whether this insect was really of 

 the same species. But M. Marechal, a celebrated painter of 

 natural history, and a most accurate observer, has witnessed 

 the coupling of these insects. Therefore no further doubt 

 can remain upon this subject. The mandibles of these in- 

 sects were formerly employed in medicine, under the name of 

 the horns of ScarabcBi. This remedy was administered as an 

 absorbent, in case of pains or convulsions supposed to be pro- 

 duced by acidity in the primce vice. It was also, according 

 to Pliny, suspended to the neck of children. The lucanus 

 parallelipipedus is commonly found on the trunks of old 

 willows, oaks, and on other trees. 



To the lucanides we have added two new genera, 1st. 

 Colophon, of Mr. Westwood's MSS. The characters are, the 

 mandibles strongly curved, as in the genus Lethrus; the 

 palpi short, filiform ; the antennae formed like the true luca- 



