INSECTS. 



COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 



The insects of tbe Linnean order Coleqptera have crustaceous elytra 

 or wing-cases, which shut together and form a longitudinal suture 

 uo'wn the back. 



OF THE SCARABS US, OR BEETLE TRIBE. 



The larvae or grubs of these insects have each six feet. In their 

 ge leral appearance they are not much unlike the Caterpillars of some 

 of the Butterflies, having their bodies composed of rings, and being 

 somewhat hairy. Most of them live entirely under the surface of the 

 ground, and feed on the roots of plants, &c. Their jow^pa, or chrysalis^ 

 generally lies dormant in the earth till the perfect insect bursts out. 



Beetles inhabit and feed in various situations. Some are found in 

 the dung of animals, or in the earth immediately under the dung. 

 Others live on the leaves of trees ; and others on Bowers. 



THE BULL COMBER, CLOCK-BEETLE, AND SPRING BEETLE. 



These insects are all nourished, both in their larva and perfect state, 

 m the dung of animals, which they are able to 

 discover by their acute faculty of smell, or other- 

 wise, at an immense distance. Under these sub- 

 stances they dig, in the earth, cylindrical holes, 

 of considerable depth, in which they deposit 

 their eggs. 



They usually fly in the evening, towards the 

 end of twilight. The droning noise produced by 

 their wings, at that time, is often heard, particu- 

 larly during the summer season. When touched, 

 these insects counterfeit death; but they do not 

 contract their legs, in the manner of the Der- 

 mestes, and some other Beetles: they stretch 

 thera out, so as to give the appearance of stiftness and rigidity, as 

 though the animals had been some time dead. 



471 



CLOCE-BEEI1.E. 



