( HAP. XVI.] 



BEETLE I'l • ' >PS. 



14'' 



Chapter XVI. 

 BEE I II. PESTS < >F CROPS. 



Itural communities through ignorance of entoi 

 cal fuels is verj plant has its insect enemies, or, more correctly, its inset t 



i^his in its luxuriance, bat n fork, it may be of 



if fruit, ti has been estimated that evei 



a . is which habitually fce<I upon it. Where 

 the plant ii for his use, the horticulturist or the 



farmer finds himself confronte . . the lavages of these creatures, and unless 



inner in which to combat them, he is likelj 

 to suffer 



Hoi Butterfly Book, pp. 256-257. 



THE Coleoptera or Beetles include a greater number of insects 

 than any other Order but, so far as the insect-pests of crops are 

 concerned, they are less important than Lepidoptera and on the 

 whole probably do no more damage than the Orthoptera or Rhyn- 

 chota. This is due largely to the fact that Beetles have a complete 

 metamorphosis, the larva being very different from the adult in 

 appearance, habits, and usually in food also, so that beetles as a 

 rule only damage crops for a portion of their life-cycle, whilst bugs 

 and grasshoppers feed in a similar manner and on similar food for 

 their whole life after emergence from the i 



'■ tt hand w< 

 parison "it!, thi hi ilthj 



