Glass 3. Insecta. Order 4. Coleoptera. 265 



hinder end of tlie body imoovered. They make a noise by rubbing the dorsal 

 surface of the fifth abdominal somite, which is provided with two transversely 

 ribbed arese, against the hinder edges of the elytra. Several generally unite to 

 bury small Mammalia, etc., removing the earth below the body, in which they lay 

 then- eggs. The larvK are pale and bulky, but possess legs and eyes, and feed 

 upon the carrion bui-ied by the foresight of their parents ; they do not forage for 

 themselves like the larvse of the Silphidse. 



4. Dermestidae (genus Dermestes and others), small, with clavate 

 antennae; the sui-face of the body covered over a gi-eater or less extent 

 with short close-set setse. The lai-vse are pi-ovided with numerous upright 

 setae ; the pupa remains within the displaced larval skin, which thus serves as 

 pupa-case. The Dermestidae and their lai-vae feed upon dead animal substances, 

 and are often injiu-ious to woollens and furs, and to museum specimens. 



5. Lamellicornia or Scarabseidse. A family of Beetles very 

 rich in species, and comprising many beautiful and characteristic fonns ; each 

 of the last three (or more) joints of the antennae is expanded like a leaf on 

 one side, and these laminae, when laid upon one another, form a clavate swelling. 

 The eye has a deep notch in front, into which the lateral edge of the head 

 extends. The front legs are emphatically adapted for digging, with flattened 

 spiny tibiae and cyHndrioal coxae ; and to the same end the prothorax is very 

 powerfully developed. The whole body is usually fairly bulky. The males are 

 often very unlike the females, with outgrowths on the head, prothorax, etc. The 

 larvae are whitish (with the exception of the much ohitinised head), fat, thin- 

 skinned, sparsely setose, and usually blind ; the legs are rather feeble, the abdomen 

 curved, its end often swollen and saccular. Both larvae and adults feed upon 

 plants or dung. Amongst others, the following belong to this family : The C o ck - 

 chafer {Melolontha vulgaris), the males distinguished from the females by larger 

 clubs to the antennae ; the lai-va lives upon roots, the imago on leaves ; the whole 

 duration of life extends over four years in Britain. Rose-chafers (Cetonia) 

 are green and shiny ; the elytra are notched at the lateral edges, so that after 

 spreading the hind wings, they can be folded back along the dorsal surface, and 

 the insects can fly with closed elytra ; the larva lives in rotten wood and in Ants' 

 nests. Oryctes nasicornis is a large brown LameUicorn, the males of which have 

 lai-ge projections on the head; the larvae occur in tan, etc. Dung-beetles 

 {Coprophaga) live as larvae, chiefly on the dung of Ungulata ; larvse and adults of 

 the genus Aphodius, for instance, are found in abundance in cow dung ; the 

 female of genus Copris digs a hole in the ground, lays an egg in it, and adds a 

 small piece of manure to serve as food for the larva when it hatches out. 

 Geotrupes, bulky, blue insects, the eyes completely divided into upper and lower 

 portions, sti'ong digging legs ; mode of life similar to that of the forms last 

 mentioned. The Stag-beetle (Lucanus cervus), is the most striking of 

 English Beetles ; the male has a large square head, and huge antler-like 

 mandibles, which are very variable in size ; the antennae are geniculate with long 

 basal joints, the club pectinate, the processes being not laminate, but denticulate 

 and far apart ; the larvae live in rotten oak trees. More abundant is the allied 

 Borcus parallelopipedus, a small form in which the mandibles of the male are 

 veiy little enlarged ; the larvs in rotten beechwood. 



6. The Skip- jacks (Elateridse, genus Elater, etc.) are usually smaE 

 with flattened bodies of an ellipsoid form. The pi-othorax is long, and pro- 

 vided, posteriorly, with a spine, which fits into a pit in the mesothorax, so that 

 very considerable movement can take place. When the prothorax is raised 

 the spine is supported against the edge of the depression, and on its being 

 suddenly allowed to shoot back into the pit the animal strikes the ground 

 with considerable force, and thus is jerked up. The leap upwards may occur 



