^ COLEOPTERAj OR BEETLES. 61 



in a complete suit of scaly armour, which is often of 

 such hardness^ as to bid defiance to the attacks of all 

 but the most powerful or insidious of the enemies of 

 'its race. Armour of proof it is indeed in many 

 caseSj such as would have made the fortune of any 

 human artificer in those old prize-fighting days of 

 chivalry, when the whole business of men of gentle 

 blood consisted in one continual experiment as to 

 who could give and take the hardest blows, whilst its 

 beauty in many cases is such as even the old ro- 

 mancers could never attribute to the exterior of the 

 '' noble knights ^^ who figure in their glowing pages. 



But this is far from being the case with all Beetles, 

 — many of them are of comparatively soft texture, 

 and even their wing-cases are rather of the consistence 

 of leather than of horn, whilst a few, but these are 

 principally of the female sex, are utterly destitute 

 both of wings and wing-cases. In a good many, on 

 the other hand, the elytra are as hard and horny as 

 could be wished, but there are no wings beneath 

 them, and in these the elytra are often united toge- 

 ther, so as to form a single horny plate covering the 

 back of the abdomen. In these last cases, however, 

 there is little danger of even the veriest tyro taking 

 these insects for anything but Beetles, and in by 

 far the majority of the order the edges of the 

 elytra, whethelP horny or leathery, and whether they 

 conceal wings beneath them or no, meet on the back 

 of the insect in a straight line, which is called the 

 suture. 



The hinder or true wings are of a membranous 

 texture, and often exceedingly delicate. They are, 

 however, traversed by strong veins as far as a point 

 beyond the middle of the wing, at which the extre- 



