STAG-BEETLES. 
7!) 
Fifth Subsection, LAMELLICORNES. 
Autenmo lamellate. Habits of the two tribes different. 
This is the extensive and natural group of Coleopterous insects, gen- 
erally known by their scientific name of Lamellicornes, or Lamellicorn- 
beetles, and so called from the peculiar construction of their antennae, 
which terminate in a club formed of moveable plates or leaves, which, 
with a few exceptions, are three in number. In some of the insects of 
the Clavicorn division, the club of the antenna is also composed of thin 
fiat joints, constituting what is known as the perfoliate antenna, but 
here the axis of the antenna passes through the plates, which are im- 
movable ; but in the lamellate antenna, the plates are attached to the 
axis by only one of their sides, which leaves them free to open and shut 
like the leaves of a book. These plates are sometimes thin and similar; 
sometimes the first is thick and hollowed out to receive the other two, 
and sometimes the two outer ones are thickened and enclose the inter- 
mediate one. In the dead specimen these plates are generally closed 
together. One of the most conspicuous and invariable characters of the 
family is the form of the anterior tibiae which are constructed for dig- 
ging in the ground, being broad and compressed, and strongly toothed 
and scalloped on their outer edge. 
The larvae are white, six-footed grubs, some of which are found in 
manure and others in rotten wood. A few of the larger species have 
been seriously injurious, both in Europe and in this country, by feeding 
upon the roots of grasses and other plants. They are usually seen lying 
upon one side in a curved position. They are gross feeders, and the 
hinder part of their bodies is usually filled with black excrementitiotis 
matter, which is partially visible through the semi-transparent walls of 
the abdomen. 
The common white grub, which is the larva of the May-beetle, is a 
familiar example of these larvae. 
With respect to their food habits these insects are divided into two 
large, somewhat equal, and well marked tribes. They were all included 
by Linnaeus in his genus Scarabaeus. 
Tribe 1st (or 7th of the whole series), Excremcntivora. Elytra (except 
in the first family), covering the whole of the abdomen. Legs stout, 
the hind legs set far back, behind the middle of the hind-body. Live 
upon putrescent or decomposing matters, chiefly the excrement of 
animals. 
Families : Copridae, Apliodiidae, Geotrupidae and Trogidae. 
Tribe 2d (or 8th), Herbivora. Tip of the abdomen always exposed. 
Legs (except in the Dynastnhe) rather slender, and with the hind legs 
attached at or before the middle of the hind body. Live upon fresh 
vegetable food, either leaves or flowers. 
Families : Dynastidae, ltutelid;e, Melolontlikhe and Cetoniidae. 
