ORDER I.—BEE'TLES. 19 
Weevils, having no legs, but all with a horny head and 
jaws. ‘These larve in a shorter or longer time change into 
cocoons (pupz) covered with a thin, transparent skin, out 
of which emerges the perfect Beetle. 
Larve are like infant children, whose only occupation 
consists in eating, that they may grow and fulfill their des- 
tiny ; but as they approach the time when they must appear 
in society as perfect creatures, they transform themselves 
into a cocoon (pupa), and sleep until Nature has clad them 
with a new and splendid dress, and furnished them with 
glistening wings to appear as respectable objects in the 
fashionable world of Insects. 
In the nourishment of Beetles something more than the 
mere preservation of the individual seems to have been de- 
signed, and in many instances it would appear as if some 
were created for the express purpose of consuming un- 
healthy organized matter. Thus we find also the carnivo- 
rous Beetles beneficial to man by devouring other noxious 
insects, and even carrion—thus destroying decayed animal 
substances which would otherwise prove a fertile source of 
unhealthy exhalations. Beetles which feed on leaves, wood, 
fruits, and grain, are herbivorous, and are generally noxious 
toman. But even here we find Nature’s great doctrine of 
compensation fully carried out. If we find many genera 
of insects (which is the case principally among the noxious 
Butterflies) so prolific that, if allowed to increase, they 
would devour all the vegetables on earth, and thus destroy 
all living beings by famine, we at the same time see how 
the Great Ruler of Nature has prevented their increase by 
making them the proper food of others. 
The number of insects which feed on others is immense. 
But, in spite of the numberless enemies of their own class, 
they have still others. There are a countless host of in- 
sects that often destroy the trees, bushes, and vegetables of 
our gardens, fields, and forests, by eating their leaves, and 
