148 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
much developed, and the apical joint, or tarsus, is 
sometimes wanting ; the hooks which it bears in that 
case being transferred to the fourth joint, though 
sometimes entirely wanting. 
The pupaa are formed in cocoons or cells, constructed 
(usually underground) of portions of the food of the 
larva, often mixed with particles of dirt; and in 
which the perfect insect, after its exclusion, remains 
for some time until its integuments are hardened. 
The Lccanidje have the club of the antennae com- 
posed of lamellae or plates, which assume a pectinated 
form, and are not capable of being closed up together, 
or widely separated, as in the other families. 
For this reason, added to the above-mentioned 
differences of the nervous system and structure of the 
larvae, and the strong sexual characters afforded by the 
development of the head and its appendages in most 
of its members, this family has been raised by M. 
Lacordaire to the rank of a section, equal in value to 
the Lamellicornes, under the name of Pectinicornes. 
It must remain, however, for future observers to 
determine whether this elevation be warranted ; for, 
until all the known Lamellicomia are dissected, it 
cannot be considered proved that there exists no 
species of them with a nervous system as iu the 
Lucanidse ; it is moreover known that there is a genus 
of the latter family ( Passalus ) wherein the appendages 
of the head are not developed as in the other Lucanidse, 
and whose nervous system is intermediate between 
the two above-mentioned conditions ; there being also 
some of their larvm, which, whilst they have no 
transverse folds, still have the anal orifice transverse ; 
thus uniting the two forms of difference. In Lucanue 
