This is the most interesting tribe of the whole Order Coleoptera. It corresponds with the great division of the _Lamellicornes_ of Latreille. This name of _Lamellicornes_ was intended to remind us of the arrangement into laminæ, more or less close together, of the club of the antennæ of these insects. Many _Scarabæi_ have their mandibles membranous, or at least partially so, and always small. This peculiarity corresponds to their habits. Never, indeed, have they to triturate hard bodies; they all feed either on flowers, on leaves, or on stercoraceous matter. Their larvæ resemble each other much, even those of families very widely differing from each other in the perfect state. They are large, whitish worms, with diaphanous skins, scaly heads, furnished with toothed mandibles, living in the ground or in rotten wood. The pupæ are fat and stumpy, and they already show the features of the perfect insect. They make a chamber in which to undergo their changes. They remain generally three years in the larva state. The duration of the pupa is very short, as also is that of the perfect insect. The differences of the sexes are often very marked on the exterior, by protuberances, horns, &c., which constitute the distinctive ornament of the males. In the group of _Scarabæides_ we shall have to speak, above all, of the _Cetoniadæ_, the Chafers, and the _Scarabæi_ properly so called. The family _Cetoniadæ_ is one of the most remarkable, on account of the beauty of the insects which compose it and of the richness of their metallic lustre, some being of great splendour, and others having velvety tints. The larvæ live in wood in a state of decomposition; the perfect insects frequent flowers, and like the sun. [Illustration: Fig. 423.--Rose Beetle (_Cetonia aurata_).] This family contains a great number of species, the type of which is the Rose Beetle (_Cetonia aurata_), of a beautiful green colour shot with gold, with transverse whitish lines. The rose beetle frequents roses especially, of which it eats the petals and the stamens. It is the _Golden Melolontha_ of Aristotle, who tells us that this unfortunate insect shared with the cockchafer the privilege of amusing children. The _Cetonia_ flies by day and by night, making use of its inferior wings without opening the elytra (Fig. 423). When seized, it pours out from the extremity of its abdomen a foetid liquid, the only means of defence the poor insect possesses. The larva (Fig. 424) much resembles the larva of the cockchafers, but the legs are shorter. It is found in rotten wood, and often in ants' nests. When it has acquired its full development it makes a cocoon of an oval form (Fig. 424), in which it transforms itself into a pupa; the cocoon is composed of bits of wood agglomerated with a silky matter which the larva secretes. [Illustration: Fig. 424.--Larva and cocoon of the Rose Beetle.]