BEETLES. 43 



country in anarchy and civil war; but his calmer 

 opponent will check him in his mad career by pointing 

 to the massacre of St. Domingo, and the present de- 

 plorable condition of Jamaica, both the result of a 

 premature emancipation. 



Hence, this law of Antagonization is, in its effects, 

 the law of Compensation. Thus, we see Tiger-beetles, 

 Carabi, Lady-birds, and many other Coleoptera, destined 

 to benefit mankind by devouring other insects which 

 are noxious. Of these we have already spoken. But 

 a mere negative usefulness is not the only one belonging 

 to this order. There are also many other Beetles which 

 render us the greatest service by devouring putrid sub- 

 stances, carrion, decomposed fermenting plants, mush- 

 rooms, dung, and decayed wood, as, for instance, the 

 Dung-beetles, Carrion-beetles, and many others. 



Now the food of Beetles in general has suggested 

 to us the idea of dividing them into three Natural 

 Families, according to the nourishment which they 

 subsist upon, and this division seems to us the simplest, 

 most uniform, and the most rational, as well as the only 

 really natural division. Accordingly, I classify all the 

 Coleoptera under one of the three following families : 



1st. The Carnivorous Beetles, which, like Lions and Tigers among 

 Beasts, prey upon living Insects ; as those presented in the 

 first Plate. 



2d Scavenger Beetles, which live on putrid matter, carrion, de- 



