Genus IT. LUCANUS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Antenna clavated; the club compressed, or 

 flattened on one side and pectinated, or cleft 

 like a comb. Mandibula, or pincers, in the 

 males, are very strong, projecting before the 

 head, and armed with teeth. In the females 

 smaller. The anterior palpi have 4 articu- 

 lations ; the posterior 3. 



General Observations. 



The larva, or grubs, of the Lucani are large, 

 fat, and white. Their mouth is armed with 

 two strong horny jaws, with which they work 

 their way into the substance of decayed wood. 

 There with the saw-dust they form round their 

 bodies a sort of shell, in which they remain till 

 they pass from the state of a chrysalis to a per- 

 fect insect. During this intermediate state, 

 this temporary death which the insect under- 

 goes, all its future parts may be plainly traced. 

 The head is bent and supported on the breast; 

 the wings and wing-cases are short, and not as 



