BEETLES. 9 



wings used with equal facility. At all events it is with but few ex- 

 ceptions easier for a beetle to run than to fly, simply because, in 

 preparing to fly, it is forced first to lift the wing-covers out of the 

 way to permit the folded true wings to come into action. Who- 

 ever has watched a June-bug, which, attracted to the light, had 

 dropped upon a smooth table, and has seen it try to escape by 

 flight, has also noticed how awkward it is, and that it has first to 

 crawl upon some elevated object to be able to unfold the true wings 

 at all. First the heavy wing-covers are lifted right over the head, 

 then the true wings are unfolded, and after a sort of pumping mo- 



Fig. 10. — Natatorial Legs, 1-2; Fossorial, 3. Tibias: unguicttlate, 4; mucro- 

 nate, 5; clo«ed corbels, 6; open corbels, 7. Tarsi: lobed beneath. 8; lobed and 

 ■with onychium. 9. CI iws or Ungues: pectinate, 10; serrate, 11; toothed. 12; 

 toothed and serrulate. 13; clelt, with equal movable parts, l^: iinequally cleit, 15; 

 bifid also toothed, 16; cleft and divaricate. 1 7; connate at base, 18; with mem- 

 branous appendages, 19; chelate, 20. After Leconte and Horn. 



tion the beetle eventually flies away, perhaps against the lamp to 

 repeat the ludicrous performance over and over again. The legs 

 of adult beetles are horny, and usually very strong. Each is com- 

 posed, as may be seen in the illustrations, of a number of joints, 

 i. e. the coxa^ frochanter, femora, tibia and tarsus. The number 

 of joints in the tarsus or toes — if we can call such organs arranged 

 lengthwise by such a name— -varies from three to five, the last one 

 terminating in most cases in a pair of sharp claws. The classifi- 

 cation of beetles depends largely upon the number of such toes, 

 which are, however, not always easily seen. In some cases the 

 terminal two are soldered together, or the last one is sunk in the 

 one above it, and sometimes it requires close study to detect the 

 real number of these useful organs. The lower surface of some 



