COLEOPTERA 467 



tidce as well as some of the Coccinellidas transform in the last larval 

 skin. 



Both larvce and adults present a very wide range of habits. While 

 the majority of the species are terrestrial, the members of several 

 families are aquatic ; and while some feed on vegetable matter, others 

 feed upon animal matter. The vegetable feeders include those that 

 eat the living parts of plants, those that bore in dead wood, and those 

 that feed upon decaying vegetable substances. Among the animal 

 feeders are those that are predacious, those that feed on dried parts 

 of animals, and those that act as scavengers, feeding on decaying 

 animal matter. Viewed from the human standpoint, some species 

 are very beneficial, others are extremely noxious. 



The Coleoptera is a very large order; in the "Catalogue of the 

 Coleoptera of America, North of Mexico" by Leng ('20), 18,547 

 species are listed; these represent 109 families. The order is divided 

 into two suborders, the Adephaga and the Polyphaga. In each of the 

 suborders the families are grouped into superfamilies, two in the 

 Adephaga and twenty in the Poh-phaga; and in the suborder 

 Polyphaga the superfamilies are grouped into seven series of 

 superfamilies. 



Students of the Coleoptera are not fully agreed as to some of the 

 details of this classification; but as this catalogue will doubtless serve, 

 for a long time, in this country, as a guide for the arrangement of 

 collections, it seems best to follow it in this introductory text-book. 

 Some of the places where there is a lack of agreement among the 

 authorities are indicated in the conspectus on page 38 of the Catalogue. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE COLEOPTERA 

 {Tables for determining the families are given below) 



I. SUBORDER ADEPHAGA 



This suborder includes the first seven f amiHes, the Cicindelidas to the Gyrinidag 

 inclusive, pages 476 to 484. The family Rhysodidae (page 508) is also included 

 in this suborder by some writers. 



II. SUBORDER POLYPHAGA 



This suborder includes all but the first seven families, or the first eight if the 

 Rhysodidas be included in the Adephaga. 



The families of this suborder are grouped into seven series, as follows: — 



SERIES I. — THE PALPICORNIA 



This series includes a single family, the Hy drophilidce ; page 485. 



SERIES II. — THE BRACHELYTRA 



This series includes fifteen families, the Platypsyllidae to the Histeridae, in- 

 clusive, pages 486 to 490. 



SERIES III. — THE POLYFORMIA 



This series includes forty-three families, the Lycidse to the Nosodendridae, 

 inclusive, pages 491 to 508. 



SERIES IV. — THE CLAVICORNIA 



This series includes thirty families, if the Rhysodidae be placed here instead of 

 in the suborder Adephaga; these are the families Rhysodidas to Cisidae, in- 

 clusive, pages 508 to 515. 



