150 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
which they are subject, from the good or bad quality, 
or too great or too little moisture, of their food, and 
the long period during which they remain in the 
larval state. 
Some of the males of this species are very large, 
and have the head very square and massive, with 
mandibles of great length and thickness and bearing 
strong' teeth ; others, however, are smaller than the 
general run of the female, and possess narrow heads, 
with comparatively slight, simple jaws. It is supposed 
that the insect uses its powerful mandibles, for abrading 
young twigs, &c., — applying its tufted ligula after- 
wards to the juice flowing from, the bruise. I possess 
an old male who has evidently worn down the apex of 
his jaws evenly and gradually by some such habit. In- 
stances have been recorded, nevertheless, of members 
of this family attacking other beetles, and also cater- 
pillars. Mr. G. E. Waterhouse (Ent. Mag., vol. ii. 
59) has recorded the fact of his having kept a stag- 
beetle alive for some time, which became comparatively 
tame, and nipped raspberries, &c., with its mandibles, 
sucking the juice afterwards with its tongue. It also 
frequently cleaned the club of its antennas, by draw- 
ing it between the patch of yellow silky pubescence at 
the upper side of the base of the anterior femora and 
the fringe of similar hairs on the lower side of the 
coxm of the same legs. In Germany there is (or used 
to be) a superstition that this beetle carries hot coals 
in its jaws from place to place. 
The eyes in Lucanvn are considerably encroached 
upon, both in front and behind, by the lateral margin 
of the head ; and have their greatest bulk on the lower 
side. 
