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THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 
The family CllD^E (Ci'i-dae) includes a small number of 
very small beetles, found under the bark of trees and in the 
dry and woody species of fungus. The body is cylindrical; 
the prothorax is prolonged over the head; the abdomen has 
five ventral segments, of which the first is longer than the 
others; and the tarsi are all four-jointed. 
The family SPHINDID/E (Sphin'di-dae) is represented in 
North America by only three small species, which are found 
in dry fungi, which grow on the trunks of trees. Although 
the antennae are clubbed, and these beetles are commonly 
regarded as belonging to the Clavicornia, the tarsi are like 
those of the Heteromera, the fore and middle tarsi being 
five-jointed and the hind tarsi four-jointed. 
Family LUCANID^E (Lu-can'i-dae).. 
The Stag-beetles. 
The stag-beetles are so called on account of their large 
mandibles, which in the males of some species are branched 
like the antlers of a stag. But they are more surely distin¬ 
guished by the form of the antennae, which are lamellate; 
but the plates composing the club are not capable of close 
apposition, and usually are not flattened. The student should 
carefully distinguish between this type of antenna and that 
of the Scarabaeidae, where the terminal segments are greatly 
flattened and can be brought close together so as to form a 
compact club. 
The adult beetles are found on the trunks of trees, and 
are said, by Harris, to live upon sap, for procuring which the 
brushes of their jaws and lips seem to be designed ; but it 
seems probable that some species at least feed upon decom¬ 
posing wood. They lay their eggs in crevices of the bark of 
trees, especially near the roots. The larvae that hatch from 
these eggs resemble the well-known larvae of May-beetles in 
form. But, unlike the white grubs which feed on the roots 
of herbaceous plants, the larvae of stag-beetles bore into the 
solid wood of the trunks and roots of trees, and reduce it to 
