SHEATH -WINGED INSECTS 
28 =; 
The Leaf-horned Beetles are distinguished by the fact that the terminal joints of 
the antennae lie one upon another like the leaves of a book. In many cases they can be 
expanded at will into a broad fan-like club. The well-known Stag-BEETLE is a representa- 
tive of this group. It is a somewhat local species, being plentiful in some parts of the 
country, and entirely unknown in others. The grub lives for several years in the trunks of 
elm-trees, feeding upon the solid wood. When fully grown, it buries itself in the earth, and 
constructs a large cocoon, in which it passes the chrysalis stage of its existence. The perfect 
beetle emerges in November, but remains within the cocoon until the following June. In the 
female the jaws are very much smaller than in the male, but are nevertheless more formidable 
as weapons. The insect may often be seen flying on warm summer evenings. 
A still larger insect belonging to the same group is the HERCULES BEETLE, found in the 
West Indies and tropical America, a male of average size being nearly 5 inches in length. 
In this beetle the thorax is prolonged into a horn, which is curved downwards, while the 
head is produced into a similar horn curved upwards, so that the two look like a pair of 
enormous jaws. It has been stated that these horns, both of which are furnished with tooth- 
like projections, are employed in sawing off the smaller branches of trees, the beetle grasping 
photos by P. Dando^ F.JZ.5.] \_Regent' s Park 
TWO BURYING-BEETLES 
These insects are about an inch in length j many are blacky but others hatie orange-red bands on the nving-cases 
a bough firmly, and flying round and round in a circle, till the wood is completely cut 
through. This assertion, however, is totally unworthy of credit. An example of the beetle — 
evidently imported — was recently found crawling on a hedge near Biggleswade. 
One of the largest of all known beetles is Drury’s Goliath Beetle, a native of the Gaboon, 
whose body is almost as big as the closed fist of a man. It appears to feed, while a grub, 
on the wood of decaying trees, and undergoes its transformation to the chrysalis state in an 
earthen cocoon, the peculiarity of which is that a thick belt, or ridge, runs round the middle. 
How this belt is formed is a mystery, as it lies upon the outside, while the grub necessarily 
constructs the cocoon from the inside. Several living examples of this beetle were exhibited in 
the summer of 1898 in the Insect-house of the Zoological Gardens where they remained for five 
or six weeks, feeding on the flesh of melons. A photograph of this beetle will be found in the 
Coloured Plate. 
The common COCKCHAFER belongs to another division of the same group. This insect is 
extremely injurious, as the grub lives for three years or more underground, feeding on the 
roots of various cultivated plants. The perfect beetle appears in May and June, and is only 
too plentiful almost everywhere. A month or so later its place is taken by the SUMMER 
Chafer, or June Bug, which may often be seen flying in hundreds round the tops of 
19 
