CHAPTEE II. 



C L E P T E R A . 



Beetles. — Scarab.eians. — Ground-Beetles. — Tree-Beetles. — Cock- 

 chafers OR May-Beetles. — Flower-Beetles. — Stag-Beetles. — Bu- 

 prestians, OR Saw-hokned Borers. — Spring-Beetles. — Timp.er-Beetles. 

 — Weevils. — Cylindrical Bark-Beetles. — Capricorn-Beetles, or 

 Long-horned Borers. — Leaf-Beetles. — Criocerians. — Leaf-mining 

 Beetles. — Tortoise-Beetles. — Cm:YsoMELiANS. — Canthariues. 



THE wings of beetles are covered and concealed by a pair 

 of horny cases or shells, meeting in a straight line on 

 the top of the back, and usually having a little triangular or 

 semicircular piece, called the scutel, wedged between their 

 bases. Hence the order to Avhich these insects belong is 

 called CoLEOPTERA, a word signifymg wings in a sheath. 

 Beetles * are biting-insects, and are provided with two pairs 

 of jaws moving sidewise. Their young are grubs, and un- 

 dergo a complete transformation in coming to maturity. 



At the head of this order Linnjvus placed a group of 

 insects, to Avhich he gave the name of Scarab^eus. It 

 includes the largest and most robust animals of the beetle 

 kind, many of them remarkable for the singularity of their 

 shape, and the formidable horn-like prominences with which 

 they are furnished, — together with others, which, though 

 they do not present the same imposing appearance, require 

 to be noticed, on account of the injury sustained by vegeta- 

 tion from their attacks. An immense number of Scarabie- 

 ians (Scarab^id^e), as they may be called, are now known, 

 diffei-ing greatly from each other, not only in structure, but 



* Beetle, in old English, httl, bytl, or bittl, means a biter, or insect that bites. 



