56 



ZOOLOGY 



destroyed in a single season. The larvte of the ladybirds 

 are dark, spotted, and hirsute. One of the commonest of 



our eastern ladybirds is a red- 

 backed, two-spotted one (Adalia 

 i>'' pun data). 



The food of beetles is, as we 

 have seen, extremely varied, p IG . <;i. 



more varied, indeed, than that of Anbtisocel- 

 FIG. CO. Pupa of ,, if-- lata. Adult. 



Aiiatisvcellutaon an J Other Order Ot insects ; WOOd- Nat. size. 



a leaf. Nat. size, fibre, bark of living or dead trees, Photo - b ^ 



Photo, by V.H.L. . , V.H.L. 



leat and stem tissue, nuts, truits, 



grains, insects, adult and larval and dead animals of vari- 

 ous sorts, are all utilized by them as food. Those beetles 

 which destroy living plants, or which feed on fruits 

 and grains utilized by man, those which burrow in tim- 

 ber, devour meat or articles of human 

 industry and collections prized by man, 

 may be ranked as economically injuri- 

 ous. One species, indeed, is injurious 

 as a parasite of a useful animal ; this is 

 a curious beaver parasite, Platypsylla 1 

 castoria, 2 In so far as certain predaceous 

 beetles feed upon other carnivorous 

 species of insects, as do certain tiger 

 carrion beetles, or upon small fish, 



FIG. fi2. Platypsylla 

 castoria, the beaver as do some of the Dytiscidse, or upon 



parasite. From - j. i TI -IT P.I 



Packard. domestic bees, like certain allies ot the 



weevils, they may be indirectly injur- 

 ing man. Of all the families of beetles, probably the leaf- 

 eaters cause greatest destruction ; next to them come the 

 weevils, followed by the Cerambycidse and the others. 



s, broad ; \j/v\\a, a flea. 



2 Fte. 62. 



