78 
THE ORDER OF COLEORTERA. 
C C. Antenna; not geniculate; anterior cox® contiguous; size medium. 
Ceiujciius. 
B B. Bodj r cylindrical; head much narrower than the thorax, and prolonged into 
a horn in the male, and tubercled in the female; size medium. 
SlNODENBRON. 
A A. Ligula broad, and filling the quadrangular notch of the mentum; antenna; 
not elbowed, first joint moderate; scutellum broad but indistinct, situated 
on the peduncle ; elytra parallel and deeply furrowed. Size very large. 
Pass ai.us. 
Lucanus contains three N. American species ; the L. elaphus , a South- 
ern species, the male varying in length from one and a half to more 
[Fig- 33.] than two inches, with large 
branching mandibles, larger 
than the head and thorax ; L. 
damn, our common pinching 
beetle, of a mahogany-brown 
color, and from an inch to an 
inch and a half long ; and the 
L. placidus, an inch long, al- 
most black, with the tooth of 
the mandibles bifid at the tip. 
Dorcus has but one generally 
Passalus coxniitus: — a, larva; b, pupa; c, beetle; rf, known Species, the pUTdllel'llS , 
underside of .thoracic joints, showing atrophied hind leg , ;„i. 
of larva ; e, same enlarged — after liiley. 01 DrOWlIlSll*DlclGli.j <111(1 
eight or nine-tenths of an inch in length. The Platycerus quercus , four- 
tenths of an inch long, of a brownish-black color, is a widely distributed, 
but nowhere a common species. Ceruclius piceus, dark brown, and halt 
an inch long, is occasionally found in considerable numbers in rotten 
w'ood. Sinodendron is not known east of the Rocky Mountains. Pas- 
salus cornu tun, a large, oblong, depressed beetle, an inch and a quarter 
long, of a shining black color, sometimes with a dark-reddish tint, and 
with a short horn bent forwards, on the top of the head, is not an un- 
common insect about the roots of decayed stumps and other similar 
situations. The genus Passalus contains many species, most of which 
inhabit S. America, but the P. cornutus is the only species found in the 
United States. 
Meaning of generic terms : 
Lucanus— Ike stag, alluding to the large branching mandibles of some 
of the males. 
Dorcus— the antelope. The males of some foreign species have large 
toothed mandibles. 
Platycerus — having wide antenna. 
Ceruclius — bearing a horn. 
Sinodendron — injuring trees. 
Passalus — a post or peg, referring to the horn on the head of some 
species. 
