Dyticus maryinalis. 



CHAPTER V. 



COLEOPTERA, OR BEETLES. 



Shakspere_, in liis mention of the " S liar d -borne 

 Beetle/^ indicates pretty distinctly _, although giving it 

 a false signification^ the most striking general cha- 

 racter of the almost innumerable insects which con- 

 stitute the order Coleoptera^. In most of these^ in 

 fact^ the fore-wings are converted into a pair of horny 

 organs_, the " shards " of the poet^ the elytra or wing- 

 cases of the entomologist^ beneath which the large, 

 membranous, hinder wings, the true organs of flight, 

 are found folded up in a very small compass, and 

 packed comfortably and securely away upon the 

 upper surface of the abdomen. 



Besides the elytra, the skin of a Beetle is usually of 

 a perfectly homy texture, so that the insect is clothed 



* Gr. koleoSy a sheath, pteron, a wing. 



