BEETLES. 



345 



A.ttelabus r/ioU; a reddish jnibescent wet'vil, quite robust, and about 0.2 of an inch 

 long, with short proboscis, is quite common on tlie hazel (Cori/liis) in the northeastern 

 United States. Tlie species of Attelabus roll up the edges of the 

 leaves of tlieir food ])lant to form a ])rotecting cell for their eggs 

 and larvie. 



The \vee\ils belonging to the sub-fauiily Ivhynchitinie differ 

 from the Attelabiu;e in having flat mandibles, which are toothed 

 on both outer and inner edges. 



Ji/ii/nc/i/'tes hicolur is about 0.:i of an incli long, and is shining 

 black and red. In New Engl.and specimens the elytra, prothorax 

 above, and head as far as the eyes, are red. Sj)ecimeus from other 

 localities vary in the distribution of the red, but the jirothorax 

 above and tlie ehtra are alwavs red. This sjiecies is abundant 



^* ^ * , ^ rlu. 3K(. — Apoaerus 



throuuhiiut the United States, on wild roses. loiujkoUis. 



SuB-()i:i)Ei; III. — Hetekomera. 



The Heteromera have the anterior and middle tarsi tive-joiuted, while the posterior 

 tarsi have only four joints. Besides some anomalous families containing but few 

 species, this group of beetles includes the Meloidte, Stylopid;e, Mordellidie, Anthicida, 

 and Tenebrionida?. 



The Meloid.e, oil-beetles or l)lister-beetles, have been used in oriental medicine as 

 early as history gives any account of the mode of treating diseases, but, however 

 curious medical properties tliey have, they ai-e, to the naturalist, still more curious on 

 account of their remarkal)le life history, and tile strange modifications which parasitism 

 has produced in the larval stages of m.any of tliem. The beetles themselves are gener- 

 ally of medimn or large size ; the vertical lu-ad is abruptly narrowed Ijeliind into a neck, 

 aiul is not set into the prothorax; the antennie are generally eleven-jointed, and not 

 long; the thorax has no lateral suture, and is narrower than the elytra; the hind coxii' 

 are large and prominent; the coxal cavities are o])cn behind ; the claws are cleft or 

 toothed; the elytra are sometimes small, ami overlaj) each other at the suture, 

 althougli they often fail to cover tlie abdomen. 



Species of Mcloe exude a yellow fluid from tlie knee-joints when disturbed. This 

 fluid is of a disagreeable odoi-, and cimtains, according to P. jNIagretti, uric acid. 

 Leydig states that, as in the similar fluid from Coccinellida', this is only the blood oi 

 the insect. Among the curiosities of tlie anatomy of ]Meloida=, mav be mentioned 

 the eyeless genus Jli/oefi/ji/ilt/.'^, from Peru, and the proboscis wliich is jiresent in some 

 species of Xeiiiofiiiathu. Dr. Hermann Aliiller has described the jiroboscis of one 

 South American jVeir/oi/nitf/ia which is as long as the insect itself, and is made u]i of 

 the two maxillas hollowed out on their insides and ]iressed together laterallv, foi-ming 

 a tube for sucking honey, exactly as is the case with the jiroboscis of the Le]iiiloptera. 



Tlie blistering properties of cantharides, which gives them their value as a 

 medicine, is due to the presence in all ]iarts of the insect of a substance called can- 

 tharidiii. Ordinarily, cantharides are u^ed for making blister-plasters in the form of a 

 ]iowder, made by simply grinding the ilried beetles, but as the cantharides, both before 

 and after grinding, gradually lose their strength, on account of the action of other 

 substances in them upon their cantharldin, ami as they are likewise suliject to destruc- 

 tion by museum-pests (^4/(<A/-( ////,s) ami by other insects, it is better to extract the 



