142 
INSECTS. 
coloration no beetles can rival many of those belonging to the two subfamilies 
Cetoniince and Rutelince. The male stag-beetles, as we have just seen, are 
distinguished by their large heads and monstrous jaws, but in the males of the 
present family it is as a rule the prothorax which is greatly enlarged or 
otherwise modified in form, and 
often furnished, like the head, with 
processes of various kinds, some¬ 
times short, in others taking the 
shape of huge curved or branching 
horns. The family admits of two 
principal divisions. In the first 
division the ligula of the lower 
lip is more or less membranous and 
distinct from the mentum, and the 
burrowing beetle, Scarabceus vciriolosus (nat. size). spiracles of the abdomen are all 
situated in the connecting membrane 
v Jr 
Scarabceus sacer (nat. size). 
between the dorsal and ventral plates. Among these we may mention the genus 
Scarabceus, over sixty species of which are known, most of them African, some 
occurring in Asia, and a few, including sacer, one of the 
sacred beetles of the Egyptians, found also in South Europe. 
Amongst the coprophagous species, met with in Great Britain, 
those of the genus Aphodins, which represents a second sub¬ 
family, are the most numerous. They are somewhat oblong 
in form, as shown in our figure of Aphodins fossor, one of 
the largest and best-known species, and are usually shining 
black, though in many the elytra are of a reddish or yellow 
colour, in some cases spotted with black. A type of another 
subfamily is found in the genus Geotrupes of which we have 
in this country several species, including the well-known 
“ dumble-dor ” or “ shard-born ” beetle ( G. stercorcirius). The 
species almost all exhibit dark blue or black colours, and in most cases the sexes 
differ little in external form; but in G. typhosus, the male is 
distinguished by having three horns projecting from the pro¬ 
thorax. The plant-feeding or phytophagous subfamilies belong 
to the second division of the Scarabceidce. In these the ligula 
is consolidated with the mentum, and the abdominal spiracles 
are placed, some in the connecting membrane between the dorsal 
and ventral plates, the others on the sides of the ventral plates. 
One of our most familiar insects, the common cockchafer, gives 
a good idea of the general form and style of coloration pre¬ 
vailing in the subfamily Melolonthince, while in habits also it 
resembles other species of the same group. As examples of 
some of the other Melolonthince we figure Polyphylla fullo, 
one of the finest European species, which, though not indigenous 
to Britain, has occasionally been found on the south coast, and—on p. 144— 
Rhizotrogus solstitialis, a common British insect, commonly known as the sunnner- 
Aphodius fossor, with 
larva (enlarged). 
