ORDER I. 



BEETLES— ( COLE OPTERA ). 



Figure 1. Figure 2. 



Repandous Tiger Beetle. Six-spotted Tiger Beetle. 



Of the class of Insects the Beetles {Coteoptera) occupy, 

 without doubt, the highest rank, as far as regards their ex- 

 ternal construction. Their whole body is covered with a 

 horny skin, and divided into a head, chest (thorax), and 

 hind-body (ahdomen). Their organs of mastication are tv/o 

 nippers or jaws, with an upper and an under lip. The 

 " feelers" (antennce) are probably the organs of hearing. 

 The under wings, which are like parchment, are so com- 

 pletely covered by two horny upper wings that they seem 

 to form one solid mass with the body, which is not the case 

 with any other order of Insects. In other animals of this 

 class the wings from their position, form, and substance, 

 are so different from their bodies, that they seem more like 

 accidental appendages. 



Beetles are all oviparous, and undergo a perfect trans- 

 formation, or metamorphosis. From the egg proceeds a 

 soft-bodied grub or maggot ; for instance, the larva of the 

 May-beetle, provided with six legs, and the larvse of the 



