22 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



ceeds a soft-bodied grub or maggot; for instance, the 

 larva of the May Beetle, provided with six legs, and 

 the larvae of the Weevils, having no legs, but all with 

 a horny head and jaws. These larvae in a shorter or 

 longer time change into cocoons (puppae), covered 

 with a thin transparent skin, out of which emerges the 

 perfect Beetle. 



Larvae are like infant children, whose only occu- 

 pation consists in eating that they may grow and fulfil 

 their destiny; but as they approach the time when 

 they must appear in society as perfect creatures, they 

 transform themselves into a cocoon (puppa), and 

 sleep until Nature has clad them with a new and 

 splendid dress, and furnished them with glistening 

 wings to appear as respectable objects in the fashion- 

 able world of Insects. 



In the nourishment of Beetles, something more 

 than the mere preservation of the individual seems 

 to have been designed, and in many instances it would 

 appear as if some were created for the express pur- 

 pose of consuming unhealthy organized matter. Thus 

 we find also the carnivorous Beetles beneficial to 

 man by devouring other noxious insects, and even 

 carrion; thus destroying decayed animal substances 

 which would otherwise prove a fertile source of un- 

 healthy exhalations. Beetle- which feed on leaves, 

 wood, fruits, and grain, are herbivorous, and are 



