194. 



MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



Ent. de France, 1834'), Rutela (in the same work, 1835), Melolontha 

 (in the same work). 



These insects are almost universally confined in their mode of 

 living to vegetable substances ; being, as Scopoli well described them, 

 " scarabaii Flora; famuli ; " a large portion of them subsisting upon 

 decaying vegetables, whilst others feed, in the pei'fect state, upon leaves 

 and flowers, their larvae devouring the roots of grass, (i'C., and often 

 causing great damage. In the colours of these insects, we find a con- 

 formation of their habits ; thus, the species which frequent dung, and 

 burrow under ground, are generally of black and obscure hues, whilst 

 those which live upon leaves and flowers are generally gaily, and 

 often splendidly, coloured : indeed, the Cetoniae and some other groups 

 vie with the Buprestidoe in this respect. 



The larvae are long flesh}^ grubs, of a soft fleshy consistence, and 

 whitish colour, divided into fourteen segments (which are trans- 



Fkj. 19. 



versely channelled), including the head ; the extremity of the body 

 is curved downwards and inwards, so that, in repose, the natural po- 

 sition of the insect is upon its side, like the luli. In creeping, how- 

 ever (which appears to be scarcely a natural effect, especially when 

 we recollect the situations in which these larvae reside), the body is 

 extended in the ordinary position. The head is generally large and 

 horny, convex in front, with the top curved; the eyes wanting; the 

 antennae 4 or 5-jointed [fig. 19. 6. antenna of the larva of the Cock- 

 chafer) ; the labium composed of two pieces, the basal one transverse, 

 the other smaller and rounded, with two short palpi [fig. 19. 9.); the 

 labrum transverse [fig, 19. 7.) ; the mandibles are strong, fiat on the 

 anterior surface, concave on the posterior, dilated at the base into a 



