14 HISTORY OF THE CLASSIFICATION 



tions of his immortal work, consisted of Coleoptera an- 

 tennis clavatis, capitulo fissili* ; while the genus Lucanus, 

 which owed its origin to Scopoli, in the Entomologia Car- 

 niolica, was described by Linnaeus as Coleoptera antennis 

 clavatis, clava compressd latere latiore pectinato-Jissili h '. 

 The latter genus, which is certainly better defined thus, than 

 it originally was by Scopoli c , seems to have also had the 

 advantage in this respect over the Linnaean definition of 

 ScarabcBus, as the peculiar character of the antennas of this 

 last group can hardly be said to have been in the above 

 words correctly described. Linnaeus also divided the Sca- 

 rabeei into groups depending upon the horns and protu- 

 berances of the head and thorax ; but it was unfortunate 

 that he could hardly have pitched upon a more variable or 

 artificial character, as will readily be perceived by inspect- 

 ing the table given in the introductory chapter. 



Not content with the separation of the Lucani from the 

 genus Scarabaus, Scopoli attempted another but less useful 

 innovation, in distributing the insects of the latter genus 

 according to the number of spines or teeth on the fore-legs ; 

 but this method was even worse than the previous one of 

 Linnaeus. Scopoli, however, proposed two other methods 

 of arrangement, one according to the number of articula- 

 tions in the clava of the antennae' 1 , and the other according 

 to the manners of the different insects themselves e . The first 

 plan is clearly artificial, and even erroneous, as in the case 

 where he conceives that there exists any truly bifid clava 

 among the Lamellicornes. But the second is so deserving 



a Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 541. ed. 13. b IMd. p. 559. 



c " Antennae apice dentibus quatuor, uno latere pectinate." Scop. Ent. 

 Cam. 1. But this character would almost restrict the genus to Lucanus 

 Cervus. d Scop. Ent. Carn, 2. e JUd. 3. 



