556 Insects. 
THE STAG BEETLE. (Lucanus cervus.) 
" See the proud giant of the beetle race ; 
What shining arras his polished limbs encase ! 
Like some stern warrior, formidably bright, 
His steely sides reflect a gleamy light : 
On his large forehead spreading horns he wears, 
And high in air the branching antlers bears ; 
O'er many an inch extends his wide domain, 
And his rich treasury swells with hoarded grain." 
Barbauld. 
This insect is the largest, and most singular in shape, of 
any in this country. It is known by two horn-like 
mandibles, projecting from its head, and resembling 
those of a stag, with which it is able to pinch very 
severely. These mandibles are strongly dentated from 
the root to the point. The wing-cases have neither 
streaks nor spots. The whole insect is of a deep brown. 
It is sometimes found in hollow oaks and beeches, near 
London. 
The larvae, or grubs, lodge under the bark, or in the 
hollow of old trees ; which they bite and reduce to fine 
powder. The larvae are supposed to exist three or four 
years before they form their cocoons. These insects are 
mostly found in Kent and Sussex. In Germany there 
is a popular but idle notion, that they sometimes, by 
means of their jaws, carry burning coals into houses ; 
and that, in consequence of this mischievous propensity, 
dreadful fires have been occasioned. The Stag Beetle is 
one of the lamellicorn Coleoptera. 
