TIIK DKIMXri'lON OK A IJKETLIv 21 



From the other orders of tliis iironji (vi/... the Diph ni or flies, the 

 L( piddph ni <»r hullertlies iuid moths jiiul the II j/menoplera or ants, 

 bees and wasps^. Ihe ('oh'oi)lei-a may l)e known by havinjjj ilie front 

 wiug.'^ or (hflro imt /illal for lH<ilil. hul sliill-lih-(\ rcposiiifi on Ihe 

 back of Ihe hixh/ (iiid filial liKjdlxr ((loii</ IIk middle in a siraiffht 

 line or siiliir( : inior n-inijs nionbranous (ind folded b(H<alh Ihe 

 (Ijlira: nioulli with inandibhs : lower, lip nol divided nloncj the 

 iiiiddh . 



The name Coleoptero is derived from two Greek words, eoleos, a 

 siieatli. and phron, a winu'. and refers to the shield-like eoverin^' 

 afforded by the elytra. At the present time the Coleoptera ai-e I'ai- 

 more inimerons in speeies than any other order of insects, about 

 150,000 beino- known and named from the different regions of the 

 earth. Of these about 12.000 speeies are known from North Amer- 

 ica. While much more numerous than the tlies, bees and butter- 

 flies, they are less often seen, as their habits are terrestrial rather 

 than aerial in luiture. 



TIIK CLASSIFICATION OF ("OLFOI'TFUA. 



As \n other classes and orders of animal and plant life, the 

 beetles or Coleoptera of North America have been caref\dly studied 

 by various students, and to each species has been given a specitic 

 Latin name. Each species has also been assigned to a certain genus, 

 or group of species agreeing in some one character or series of char- 

 acters, which also bears a Latin name. These two Latin names com- 

 bined, followed by the name or abbreviation of the person who first 

 recognized the beetle as an undescribed form and gave it a specific 

 name, comprise the name by which the beetle is or should be knowii 

 whenever it is spoken or written about. For example : one of our 

 common June 1)eetles was first descrilied in 1844, by Dr. F. E. 

 Melsheimer. under the name ruf/osa. However, he assigned it to 

 the genus Aneijlonijeha of Dejean, If it had been left in that genus 

 its name for all time sliould have been written A)tC!jlon!jcha riKjosa 

 ]Melsh. However, later writers have found tliat this species, to- 

 gether with a large nnml)er of others, l)elong to a group whose com- 

 mon characters were first pointed out by Rev. F. W. Hope in 1887. 

 To this group Hope gave the generic name Laehnosterna, so that the 

 name of the beetle described by ^lelsheiiiK r is now recognized as 

 Lachnosfer)ta rngosa Melsh. The genus, or generic name to which 

 any species is assigned is largely a mattei' of opinion, but the specific 

 name, if not ))efore used foi- a memlx'i" of that g(>nus. is liiud uidess 



