324 ZOOLOGY 
a tibia, and the five-jointed tarsus, the distal joint of which 
carries two claws. 
The dorsal part of the prothorax forms a broad shield, the 
pronotum. The mesothorax bears dorsally the anterior pair of 
wings, which are horny and hard, and are termed e/ytra; they 
afford a protective covering to the membranous posterior wings, 
and to the abdomen as far as the eighth segment. The meta- 
thoracic wings are membranous, they stretch out at right angles 
to the body and are used for flight, at other times they are 
folded under the elytra. The superficies of these wings is 
divided into a number of small areas or cells by the presence 
of chitinous tubules, in which tracheae and nerves ramify ; these 
“cells” are of great importance in Insect classification. 
The third division of the body, the abdomen, is by far the 
bulkiest ; it comprises eight segments, each composed of a 
B Fic. 186.—A male Melolontha 
 @ vulgaris, seen from above, 
slightly enlarged. After 
Vogt and Yung. 
Head, stretched forward. 
Prothorax. 
Mesothorax, scutellum. 
. Metathorax. 
. Abdomen. 
. Anterior wing (elytron) of 
right side, turned for- 
ward. 
7. Posterior wing of right side, 
expanded. 
8. Maxillary palps. 
9. Femur of third right leg. 
10. Tibia of third right leg. 
11. Tarsus of third right leg. 
a oP wre 
dorsal plate, the tergum or notum,and a ventral plate, the sternum, 
the soft integument which connects the sides of these successive 
plates is pierced by the apertures of the six pairs of abdominal 
stigmata. The eighth tergum is prolonged into a long bluntly 
pointed process, which overhangs the openings of the alimentary 
canal and generative organs (Fig. 186). 
The alimentary canal of the cockchafer is about six times 
as long as the body, and is therefore necessarily thrown into 
loops more or less coiled (Fig. 187). This is unusual amongst 
Arthropods (though common in Insects), in which the digestive 
tract is as a rule a straight tube, running directly between 
