'COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 
185 
LAMELLICORNES. 
This important section of the pentamerous bee- 
tles is so designated, because the antennae terminate 
in a club or large knob, composed of several laminae 
or thin plates, disposed somewhat like the leaves of 
a book, and which the insects can open and shut at 
pleasure. They are inserted in a deep excavation, 
under the lateral edges of the head, and usually con- 
sist of nine or ten joints. The anterior pair of legs 
are somewhat adapted for digging, as the tibiae are 
rather broad, and armed with strong spines on the 
terminal angles and outer sides. As many of these 
insects feed on substances in a state of decomposi- 
tion, which scarcely require any further trituration 
to fit them for food, the mandibles are sometimes 
of a membranous substance, — a peculiarity not ob- 
servable in any other Coleoptera. 
This division is of great extent, the most recent 
enumeration of its species making them amount to 
upwards of 2000. Scarcely more than 120 occur in 
Britain, but several of these are the most conspicu- 
ous and best known of our native Coleoptera, such, 
for example, as the Stag-beetle and the Cockchafer. 
The tropical kinds are distinguished by their mag- 
nitude, and are by far the most remarkable-looking 
of their tribe, owing to the variety of form assumed 
by the head and thorax, and the extraordinary horn- 
like processes with which these parts are sometimes 
furnished. Such of the species as feed on flowers 
