134 THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Beet—continued. 
substitute for that vegetable. Bedding: Black Selected, 
Dell’s Black-leaved, Dracena-leaved, and Zulu. The 
Chilian Beet is excellent for sub-tropical bedding, as 
the foliage is massive, with large, prominent, highly- 
coloured midribs. Seeds may be sown where the plants 
are intended to remain at the end of April. 
BEETHOVENIA. A synonym of Ceroxylon 
(which see). 
BEETLES (Coleoptera). Though the individuals 
which go to make up this vast Order cannot be said to 
possess the intelligence exhibited by certain Hymenoptera 
—Ants, Bees, and Wasps, for example—the gorgeous 
colours of many Moths and Butterflies (Lepidoptera), or 
the high organisation of the insects comprising these Orders, 
or even the Diptera (Flies), yet they are numerically the 
strongest of all insects, are extremely diverse as to habits. 
and world-wide as to their distribution. The number of 
species is put down at 150,000, of which 3300 belong to 
Britain alone. The life-history of Beetles generally is but 
little understood, as frequently their habits are such as 
to preclude close investigations being made. Much, there- 
fore, with regard to the larval and pupal stages, yet remains 
to be discovered. 
The majority of Beetles are capable of flight, although 
they are not so often recognised upon the wing as Moths 
and Butterflies; but there are many which are quite unable 
to fly. In the latter case the membranons hind-wings are 
either very rudimentary or altogether wanting, and usually 
the horny fore-wings (elytra), which fit so beautifully along 
the centre of the back, are “fused” together, or “soldered.” 
Occasionally the wings are wanting, as in the soft-bodied 
female Glowworm, while the male is amply provided (see 
Fig. 159). Beetles, too, which are incapable of flight, 
generally ran very rapidly—Ground Beetles for instance ; 
while others both run and fly with great rapidity, as is 
the case with the Tiger Beetles. 
Fic. 159. MALE AND FEMALE GLOWWORMS. 
The larve, or grubs, of Beetles are rarely seen, com- 
pared, say, with those of Butterflies and Moths. Speaking 
generally, they are made up of a head, three thoracic 
segments, either nine or ten abdominal’ segments, nine 
pairs of spiracles, and frequently a peculiar protrusion 
at the anal extremity of the body. Some, like those 
of the Ground Beetles and the Tiger Beetles, are 
very active, and all are wonderfully adapted to the 
kind of life they have to lead. Wood-feeding larve 
(which are well protected) a:e soft-bodied, hard-headed 
creatures, with exceptionally st:ong jaws; and so, too, 
are the larve of certain Beetles living under the soil 
protected—Cockchafers, Rosé-chafers, and the like. Then 
there are others which feed exposed, like the larve of 
the well-known Ladybirds. 
_ Beetle larve differ markedly as regards the length of 
time they remain in that condition. Wood-feeders—of 
which the Musk Beetle, Stag Beetle, and Bark Beetles 
Beetles— continued. 
are familiar examples—take several years. Again, the 
ubiquitous Wireworms are two years at least as larve. 
Occasionally two distinct forms of larve are evolved 
from the same individual; this is known as hypermeta- 
morphosis, and it is met with in the very abundant Pea 
Weevil (Bruchus pisi). The young larve# of this are very 
different-looking animals from the older grubs. The 
former possess three pairs of legs; but these are lost 
after the larve enter the pea-seed, and approach the full- 
fed condition. As the young larve.of the Pea Beetle 
have to penetrate both pod and seed of their food-plant, 
these legs, as well as the cutting spines found upon the 
pronotum, aid them considerably. A still more interesting 
example is the young larva of the soft-bodied, sluggish 
indigo-blue Oil Beetle (Meloe). It is an insect capable 
of running, and may be found in Buttereups and other 
flowers in summer awaiting the arrival of certain bees, 
to which the larve attach themselves, and are carried to 
the nests. | Once there, they feed first upon the eggs and 
afterwards upon the stored honey. While with the bees 
they undergo several changes: at one time they possess 
short legs, which, by a gradual process, are reduced to 
mere tubercles, and then finally disappear. There are four 
moults, and, except for a short ‘time between one of them 
(when the jaws are rendered quite useless), the grubs feed 
upon the honey. 
The pupal stage of Beetles is variously passed. Com- 
monly a cocoon is elaborated from the food-plant and 
the soil, and in this it is assumed; or it may be passed 
merely in a hollowed-out place in the soil. Ladybirds, 
however, differ considerably in this respect; they remain 
suspended by the tail to the food-plants. The duration of 
this stage of Beetles cannot be fixed with certainty, and 
it may be anything from a week or ten days to a month 
or less. Frequently the perfect insects—Cockchafers in 
particular—remain beneath the soil some considerable 
time before finally emerging, as at first all are soft-bodied, 
and destitute of any distinctive colour. 
To enable the gardener to understand the external 
anatomy of Beetles, a dissection of the Stag Beetle is given, 
and the various parts are briefly explained (see Fig. 160). 
As a rule, the several members of the great Order 
Coleoptera are destitute of an external covering of the 
nature of hairs or scales, and even if these are present, the 
former are usually few in number, while the latter are very 
small, and not easily to be distinguished separately 
without the aid of a lens. Owing to this fact, and the 
further one that Beetles are fairly typical insects, and 
contain in their ranks members of goodly proportions, it is 
not a difficult matter to make out the external anatomy of 
an insect in general, and of this order in particular, 
especially if one of the larger species be selected. The 
work, too, is still further facilitated through the external 
skeleton being firm, and therefore easily manipulated. 
A first glance is sufficient to show that primarily the 
body of the insect. has three great divisions, the anterior 
one being the head, and the next the thorax, while the 
abdomen brings up the rear. Each of these, however, is 
either sub-divided or possesses appendages, or is modified 
in both directions. 
First, as to the head. On the upper surface (I., A.), @ is 
the labrum, or upper lip; b, the clypeus; c, the vertex, or 
crown; d, the occiput. As appendages to this surface of 
the head, we find the antenne (e) and the mandibles, or 
upper jaws (f). 
Though extremely variable in length and appearance, the 
antennz nearly always consist of eleven joints, the basal 
one being often long and the next one short. They are 
employed as sense-organs, though what particular sensa- 
tions are received by their means is still somewhat 
problematic. The mandibles in the male of the Stag 
Beetle are enormously developed, and modified into a pair 
of powerful pincers, which the insect knows well how to 
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