13 



CHAPTER II. 



ON THE ACTUAL STATE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE 

 V/ITH RESPECT TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE 

 LINNiEAN SCARAB^I. 



M. Latreille has lately, in the third volume of the 

 .Regne Animal of M. Cuvier, and also in the new edition 

 now publishing of the Diclionriaire cTHistoire Naturelle, 

 applied the name of Lamellicornes to an artificial divi- 

 sion comprising all the insects which compose the genera 

 Lucanus and Scarahaus, as they were left by Linnaeus 

 in his last edition of the Systema NaUtrce. Indeed the 

 connexion between these genera is so evident, that in the 

 Fauna Suecica and the ten first editions of the Systema 

 Natura; we find them combined under the general name 

 of Scarabceus ; and even now it is difficult, nay even im- 

 possible, to consider them separately, without overlooking 

 several important characters and curious properties which 

 belong to both. This difficulty may in some manner ac- 

 count for a wider range being taken in this investigation 

 than seems necessary for the original purpose I had in 

 view. The central object of the following remailcs is ne- 

 vertheless still the genus Scarabceus of the twelfth edi- 

 tion of the Systema JSaturce ; and if I touch on the genus 

 Lucanus, it is only so far as is rendered necessary by the 

 abovementioned affinity. The genus Scarabaus tlien, as 

 it was constituted by the learned Swede in the later cdi- 



