224 



A^V ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



completely destroyed. Wild as well as cultivated plants are 

 infested, though we do not know that insects infesting our garden 

 varieties are carried over by other wild species. 



Fig. 224. 



Fig. 225. 



V^-n-we^^xW, Brticlms pisi- — c, larva; d, pupa; (^, adult ; all enlarged. 



We now reach the series Hdcroniera, or beetles in which the 

 fore and middle tarsi have five joints, while the posterior are 

 four-jointed only. We have rather a large number of families, 

 many with a few species only, and as a whole they are feeders 

 in or on decaying or dry vegetable tissue, whether herbaceous, 

 woody, or fungoid in character. There are exceptions, of course, 

 but that is the rule. 



The TenebrionidcB, or "darkling-beetles," contain species 

 ranging from quite small to very large, found under all sorts of 

 conditions, but most frequently beneath 

 bark of trees, on fungi, or under stones, 

 among dry vegetable matter. There is 

 no uniformity in appearance, but in most 

 instances the antennae are more or less 

 moniliform, or bead-like. The majority 

 of our species are Western, occurring in 

 their greatest variety in the Rocky 

 Mountain region, but none, so far as I 

 know, trouble green vegetation. The 

 typical genus Tenebrio contains black or 

 brownish, somewhat flattened species, 

 with a square thorax and deeply ridged 

 wing-covers. The larvae are known as " meal-worms," and feed 

 upon grain or meal remnants in barn, .stable, or other sheltered 



The meal-worm, Tenebrio 

 moliior. — a, larva ; b, pupa; 

 c, adult ; d \.o h, structural 

 details. 



