Beetles 
2 73 
The genus Lucanus contains four North American species, three of which 
are familiar. L. elaphus (Fig. 374), the giant stag-beetle, of the southern 
states, varies from i£ to 2 inches in length, not including the mandibles, 
which in the male are 1 inch long and branched; L. dama , the common 
pinching-bug of the East, rich mahogany-brown in color, from 1 inch to 
ij inches long, “flies by night with a loud 
buzzy sound and is often attracted to lights 
in houses,” and has a white grub larva 
looking like the white grub of the June-bug, 
but found in partially decayed trunks and 
roots of apple-, cherry-, willow-, and oak- 
trees instead of in the ground; L. placidus, 
not quite an inch long, and black, is a third 
common species.. The antelope-beetle, 
Dorcus parallelus , is less than an inch long, 
black, and with longitudinal grooves on the 
elytra. Platycercus quercus, f inch long, 
brownish black, is widely distributed. 
Ceruchus piceus, \ inch long and dark brown, 
is occasionally common in rotten wood. 
The horned Passalus, P. cornutus, large 
and shining black, has a short horn bent 
forward on top of its head. 
The great family Scarabaeidae, com- Fig. 374.-Stage-beetle, Lucanus 
prising over five hundred species of North elaphus male. (Natural size.) 
American beetles, includes some of our most familiar kinds. Indeed 
so many common, conspicuous, and interesting Scarabaeid beetles are to be 
found by any collector, or observed by any amateur naturalist, that the two 
or three pages of this book which can be devoted to them are confessedly 
miserably inadequate to help any one. The characteristic club of the 
antennae and heavy robust June-bug type of body make most of the members 
of this family readily recognizable. In practically all, too, the anterior 
tibiae are broad and flattened and fitted for digging. Depending on their 
habits, the Scarabaeids are readily divided into two principal groups, the 
scavengers, of which the tumble-bugs, dung-beetles, etc., are examples, 
and the leaf-chafers, of which the June-bugs, rose-bugs, rhinoceros-beetles, 
fig-eaters, and flower-beetles are examples. Some entomologists divide 
the Scarabaeids into several distinct families, but most do not. The scavenger 
Scarabaeids are beneficial to man by their eating or burying of decaying 
matter, but the leaf-chafers are harmful, some of them being serious pests. 
The Scarabaeid larvae (Fig. 376) are thick, soft-bodied, whitish, six-footed 
grubs, which usually lie curved and often on one side. They are found 
