44 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



cayed wood, and plants ; as those represented in the second 

 Plate. 

 3d. Herbivorous Beetles, which feed on Plants and Fruits, as 

 Snout-beetles, or Weesils, Capricorn-beetles, &c. 



The first two families are useful to man, and deserve 

 our protection, but the last are noxious, and should be 

 destroyed wherever encountered. 



The distinguished French Entomologist, Latreille, 

 divided Beetles into five tribes, according to the num- 

 ber of joints found on their feet. Thus, he called those 

 that have five joints, Pentcvmera ; those with four on 

 the hind feet and five on the fore feet, Heteromera / 

 those with four, Tetramera ; with three, Trimera ; and 

 those with two joints, Dimera. 



This division, although as convenient as the artificial 

 classification of Plants by Linnseus, according to the 

 number of stamens, is still subject to the same incon- 

 gruities. Both in the system of Latreille and in that 

 of Linnseus, we find arranged in one and the same class 

 individuals which do not and cannot coincide with each 

 other, neither in their external form nor in their nature. 

 Thus, in the Linnsean system, the Crocus and Wheat 

 occur in the same class, Triandria, simply because each 

 of these plants has three stamens ; but what an immense 

 difference is there between them, in their properties, 

 and even in their external forms! Many others occur 

 in the same class, which are equally incongruous. So 



