COLEOPTERA. 435 
tented to choose those types which are most prominent and most 
characteristic. We will begin with the Scaraéeides, with their 
heavy compact body, and short antennz, terminated by a foliaceous 
club. It is to this tribe that belongs the beautiful Rose Beetle 
( Cetonia aurata), which lives on roses ; the Cockchafer (Melolontha 
vulgaris), the Scarabeus of the Egyptians, &c. 
This is the most interesting tribe of the whole Order Coleoptera. 
It corresponds with the great division of the Lamellicornes of 
Latreille. This name of Lamellicornes was intended to remind us 
of the arrangement into lamine, more or less close together, of the 
club of the antennee of these insects. Many Scarabe@i have their 
mandibles membranous, or at least partially so, and always small. 
This peculiarity corresponds to their habits. Never, indeed, have 
they to triturate hard bodies; they all feed either on flowers, 
on leaves, or on stercoraceous matter. Their larvee resemble each 
other much, even those of families very widely differing from each 
other in the perfect state. They are large, whitish worms, with 
diaphanous skins, scaly heads, furnished with toothed mandibles, 
living in the ground or in rotten wood. The pups are fat and 
stumpy, and they already show the features of the perfect insect. 
They make a chamber in which to undergo their changes. They 
remain generally three years in the larva state. The duration of 
the pupa is very short, as also is that of the perfect insect. The 
differences of the sexes are often very marked on the exterior, by 
protuberances, horns, &c., which constitute the distinctive orna- 
ment of the males. 
In the group of Scarabeides we shall have to speak, above all, 
of the Centoniade, the Chafers, and the Scarabei properly so called. 
The family of Cetoniade is one of the most remarkable, en account 
of the beauty of the insects which compose it and of the richness 
of their metallic lustre, some being of great splendour, and others 
having velvety tints. The larvee live in wood in a state of decom- 
position ; the perfect insects frequent flowers, and like the sun. 
This family contains a great number of species, the type of 
which is the Rose Beetle (Cetonia aurata), of a beautiful green 
colour shot with gold, with transverse whitish lines. The rose 
beetle frequents roses especially, of which it eats the petals 
and the stamens. It is the Golden Melolontha of Aristotle, 
FRE2 
