20 



BULLETIN 67, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Fig. 38.— A Buprestid, Chrysobothris femo- 

 rata: a, Larva; b, beetle; c, head of male; 



d, PUPA. 



to all. Many species are dull colored, but the Buprestes are among 

 the most brilliant and gorgeous of the insect tribe. The larvae of this 

 section are variable. Those of the Buprestes (figs. 38, 126) bore in 

 wood, have enlarged heads, and are without legs. The larvae of other 

 families, however, have short legs, and in many cases the last segment 



is corneous and toothed. Some of 

 them are predaceous; others live 

 in decaying or in living wood. 



Heteromera. — This section in- 

 cludes those beetles whose antennae 

 are simple (not clavate or serrate), 

 and which have but four joints in 

 the hind tarsi, the tarsi of the an- 

 terior legs having five joints. The 

 ventral side of the abdomen shows 

 but five segments. The beetles of 

 this section are of various shapes. 

 Many of them are dull colored. The head is usually prominent, and 

 the legs quite slender. Some of them have no hind wings. Most of 

 them feed on vegetation, others in stored foods, and some (Meloidae) 

 are parasitic in the nests of wasps, bees, or on the eggs of grasshoppers. 

 The latter pass through a complicated life history, the first larva 

 looking much like that of the Ade- 

 phaga, while later the larva is a fat 

 grub like that of the June bugs. 

 Other larvae are hard-bodied and 

 rather slender. To this section be- 

 long the blister-beetles (Meloidae) 

 (fig. 118) and the mealworm (Tene- 

 brionidae, fig. 39) and the small 

 flower-beetles (Mordellida?) , with 

 compressed tapering bodies, which 

 slip through the fingers when one 

 catches them. 



Phytophaga. — This section includes 

 a large series of beetles (fig. 40) in 

 which the tarsi are apparently four- 

 jointed, the basal three usually pro- 

 vided with dense, short hairs forming 

 a sort of cushion. The head is usu- 

 ally bent downward, and the mouth is below. The antennae are 

 simple, and often very long. The legs are short and stout. In 

 some cases the hind pairs are thickened for leaping. The larvae of all 

 feed on plants, either on the leaves, in the wood, or on the seeds. The 

 adults in many cases also feed on the same materials. Many of them 

 are very prettily marked with spots and stripes of various colors. A 



Fig. 39.— One of the tenebrionid.e, or 

 darkling beetles, eleodes. 



