702 



ZOOLOGY. 



branous wings when the latter are not in use. These are the beetles, 

 falsely called " bugs." Although a well-defined order the beetles are very 

 various, as will be seen from the fact that there have been described over 

 eleven thousand species for this continent north of Mexico. There are 

 said to be more than one hundred thousand known species of beetles. 



The larvae are commonly known as grubs. The feeding habits are 

 almost as diversified as the form. Many are scavengers and lay their 

 eggs in carrion and other decaying matter ; others bore into wood and 



FIG. 147. 



FIG. 147. Hornet's nest, sectioned. Photograph from life by Shufeldt. 



bark, as the long-horned beetles ; some frequent grain, nuts, fruits ; others 

 are leaf-eaters ; a few devour other insects. The Colorado potato-beetle, 

 the weevils, the museum pest, the locust-borer or the hickory-borer will 

 serve to illustrate some of the more hurtful representatives of this immense 

 order. 



Some especially interesting forms are the fire-flies, the scarabeids, in- 

 cluding the sacred dung-beetle of Egypt, and the ladybird-beetle. The 



