156 ZOOLOGY. 
length, and the sternum in some cases hiding the mouth below. The feet 
are compressed, and can be drawn close to the body, which has generally 
cavities to receive them. This stirps contains the two families Byrrhede 
and Histeride. Hister (pl. 81, jigs. 119-128) is the chief genus of the 
latter family, in which the body is sub-quadrate, often widest in the middle, 
of a hard consistence, mostly black, marked with striz and punctures, the 
disposition of which affords good specific characters. The elytra are some- 
what shorter than the abdomen, the antenne are elbowed, and the mandibles 
strong and projecting. When disturbed, they draw up the feet, withdraw 
the antennee into cavities beneath the thorax, and simulate death. They 
are found in carrion, dung, and decaying fungi. The genus Hololepta is 
very flat and scale-like, and the species are found beneath mcist bark. The 
American species, Heterius brunneipennis, Randall (Hester), is found in 
ants’ nests. The paper of Major John Le Conte on this family may be 
consulted in the Boston Jour. Nat. Hist. 
The stirps Lamellicornia is extensive and contains numerous distinct 
forms. The distinctive character is in the antenns, which are short, of 
nine or ten articulations, the last (generally three) forming a club composed 
of flat plates closing upon each other like the leaves of a book. The 
anterior tibise are generally dentate. The males often differ from the 
females in having large mandibles and horn-like projections. This stirps » 
contains the largest and some of the handsomest and most splendid among 
known insects. Some feed upon pollen and honey, some upon leaves, and 
many frequent excrementitious and decaying vegetable substances. The 
larva is a long fleshy grub, generally white, curved in a semicircle, having 
six feet, little capable of locomotion, and generally living in the ground. 
The families are: 1, Lucanidw (pl. 81, jig. 124); 2, Geotrupide ( fig. 
148); 3, Scarabaide ( figs. 132, 186-142); 4, Aphodide (figs. 183-35) ; 5, 
Trogide ; 6, Dynastide (figs. 145-8); 7, Rutelide ; 8, Anaplognathide ; 
9, Melolonthide (figs. 129-181); 10, Glaphyride ; 11, Cetonrade ( figs. 
125-127). 7 
The Lucanide (Lucanus, pl. 81, fig. 124) are considered by Westwood 
and others to form a group equal in value to the remaining families united, 
named respectively Priocera and Petalocera by Duméril. ‘The American 
Passalus cornutus belongs to this family. Its larva is white, and presents 
the remarkable peculiarity of having but four feet, the posterior pair being 
represented by a small scale upon each side, which can be moved rapidly, 
as if it were a real foot. Itis found beneath the bark of rotten logs, and is 
not bent in a semicircle, but walks freely upon its inferior surface. The 
adult burrows in rotten wood, and may be recognised by its shining black 
color, large size, flattened parallel form, and quadrate prothorax separated 
from the striate elytra. The strongly elbowed antenne in this family 
indicate an affinity with the Histeride. 
The Scarabwide (pl. 81, figs. 182, 186, 140-144) have the front of the 
head extended into a flat clypeus used in working in the ground, and in the 
dung upon which they feed. Many of them form a ball of dung (said to 
contain the eggs) which one or two of them roll along until they have found 
360 
