Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/314

 302 STAG BEETLE according to age; they are peculiar to the males, shed in the spring, and reproduced, sometimes to a weight of 24 Ibs., by August. (For family characters see DEER.) It is strong, Stag (Cervus elaphus). swift, and vigilant, with a very acute sense of smell ; it was formerly found in herds in the forests of the mountainous regions of tem- perate Europe, but is now rare except in the least inhabited parts, like the highlands of Scotland, where stag hunting is still a favorite sport with the privileged few. This in old times constituted the noble art of venerie, as distin- guished from the more plebeian chase of the fallow deer and other species which resort to the plains more than the woods. Gestation continues eight months ; the young or calf is dropped in May, and is yellowish with white spots ; the male is called a stag or hart, and the female a hind. The venison is coarser than that of the fallow deer. It has been found fos- sil, with bones of the elephant and other un- gulates, in the Kirkdale cavern, the peat bogs of Ireland, and similar recent formations. It is represented in North America by the larger wapiti. (See WAPITI.) Other stags are found in India, N Africa, and Japan. STAG BEETLE, the common name of the fam- ily lucanida, of the lamellicorn pentamerous coleoptera, of which the type is the genus lu- canu (Linn.). Many of the species are of con- siderable size, and have received their name from the large and powerful mandibles with which the males are furnished. The stag beetle of Europe (L. cervus, Linn.) is 2 in. long, exclusive of the mandibles, and is the largest and most formidable of the British beetles ; the color is black, with brown elytra ; the head is wider than the body ; the mandibles corne- ous, arched, with three largo and several small- STAGIRA er teeth, and used as instruments of offence ; antennae bent, pectinated, and 10-jointed, tibiaa dentated along outer edge, and the tarsi end- ing in two hooks. They live in the trunks of trees by day, flying abroad at night, often into houses ; the females are smaller, with narrow- er head and much shorter mandibles. They are also called horn beetles and flying bulls. According to De Geer, they feed principally on the sweet juice spread over the leaves of the oak and exuding on the bark, which they obtain by means of the brushes of the under jaws; they are said to seize caterpillars and soft-bodied insects, and to suck their juices; they are very strong, and can pinch the finger pretty hard, but do not use their mandibles in this way unless provoked, and their punctures are not poisonous ; they live only a short time in the perfect state, perishing soon after laying their eggs in the crevices of bark near the roots of trees. The larvaa are large and fleshy grubs with very thick body, arched, with 13 rings, and having a brown scaly head armed with two strong jaws with which they gnaw wood, reducing it to a. coarse powder, and often doing much damage by boring into the trunks and roots of oaks and beeches ; there are six scaly feet, attached to the first three rings; they are said to be six years in coming to their growth, and by some are regarded as the cos- 8us of the Romans, a worm-like grub, according to Pliny, obtained from the oak and considered European Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus). delicious food. The largest of the New Eng- land species is the L. capreolus (Linn.), usu- ally called horn bug ; it is about 1 in. long, without the mandibles, the latter being sickle- shaped and toothed ; the body mahogany brown, smooth and polished. They appear in July and August. The larvro are 3 in. long when full grown, straw-colored, with yellow head, brown jaws, and nine stigmata ; they live in the trunks and roots of apple trees, willows, and oaks, and are sometimes injurious. STAG HOUND. See HOUND. STAGIRA, previously Stagirns, an ancient town of Macedonia, in Chalcidice, on the Strymonic gulf. It was founded by a colony from An- dros in the middle of the Vth century B. C., and was originally named Orthagoria. It was destroyed and rebuilt by Philip, the father of Alexander. It is chiefly known as the birth- place of Aristotle.