NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



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Order I. — Beetles. 



Of the class of Insects the Beetles (Coleoptera) 

 occupy without doubt the highest rank, as far as re- 

 gards their external construction. Their whole body 

 is covered with a horny skin, and divided into a head, 

 chest (thorax), and hind-body (abdomen). Their 

 organs of mastication are two nippers or jaws, with 

 an upper and an under lip. The " feelers" (antennas) 

 are probably the organs of hearing. The under 

 wings, which are like parchment, are so completely 

 covered by two horny upper wings, that they seem to 

 form one solid mass with the body, which is not the 

 case with any other order of Insects. In other animals 

 of this class the wings, from their position, form, and 

 substance, are so different from their bodies, that they 

 seem more like accidental appendages. 



Beetles are all oviparous, and undergo a perfect 

 transformation, or metamorphosis. From the egg pro- 



