6 COLEOPTERA. 



the larvee of the Lucani and Cerambyes in their voluptuous repasts ; previously feeding 

 them on farinaceous substances to give consistence to the animal juices. 



The learned author of the last account we have of China, says, " Under the roots of 

 the canes is found a large white grub, which being fried in oil is eaten as a dainty by the 

 Chinese." Donovan suggests that perhaps this is the larva of Scarabseus Molossus, which, 

 like many other of the Scarabsei,* may live sedentary in the ground, and subsist on the 

 roots of plants : the general description and abundance of this insect in China favours such 

 opinion. The same author observes in another part of his work, that " the aurelias of the 

 silk worm which is cultivated in China, after the silk is wound off, furnish an article for 

 the table." This also is a very ancient custom among the Asiatics, and even Europeans 

 before the sixteenth century, if we may credit Aldrovandus :| it is certain the worms, 

 if not the chrysalides, were administered in medicine in early ages.j Fabncius also 

 expressly states that the insect here figured is medicinally employed in China. 



ONTHOPHAGUS SENICULUS. 



Plate 2. fig. 2\ and 2 b . 



Genus. Onthophagus, Latreille. Scarabeeus p. Fabncius, Donovan. 



Ch. Sp. O. thorace antice, clypeo postice bicorni, elytris substriatis strigis duabus baseos e 



punctis ferrugineis, punctoque uno alterove flavescente apicis. Long. Corp. lin.-5£. 

 O. with the thorax in front, and the hinder part of the clypeus with two horns, elytra 



slightly striated, with two rows of basal pale spots and with two yellowish apical 



spots. Length nearly half an inch. 

 Syn. Scarabeeus seniculus, Fab. Ent. Syst. \.p. 43. 142. Oliv. Ent. 1. 3. p. 124. t. 7. 



f. 56. a. b Panzer in Naturforscher, 24. t. l.f. 5. 

 2 Scarabeeus brevipes, Herbst. Archiv. t. 19. f. 16. 

 Habitat. Tranquebar (Fabricius), China, Donovan, Weber MSS. 



The annexed figures exhibit the two sexes of Scarabasus Seniculus. In some speci- 

 mens the spots are very indistinct and reddish ; in others the wing-cases have faint red 

 striae. The female has the rudiments of horns on the thorax. 



* The larvae of the Scarabeei live in the trunks of decayed trees, in putrid and filthy animal substances, or 

 in the earth. The last are the most injurious, because they destroy the roots of plants. All the known kind* 

 of these larvee are of an unwieldy form and whitish colour, the skin free from hairs, and only the head and fore 

 feet defended with a shelly covering. (As it is most probable that the habits of this large Copris are analogous 

 to those of the English C. lunaris, I should be rather inclined to regard the cane grub mentioned in the above 

 extract as the larva of a Calandra. J. O. W.) 



t The German soldiers sometimes fry and eat silk worms. Aldrov. 



X Silk worms dried, powdered, and put on the crown of the head, help the vertigo and convulsions ; mun- 

 dify or cleanse the blood, &c. &c. Schroderus, Serapio, fyc. S,-c. 



