110 THE ORDER OP COLEOPTERA. 



It is sometimes found in houses, but more commonly on the carcases, 

 and especially the bones, of dead animals. The have even been found 

 under the wrappings of Egyptian mummies. The ^V. {(Jorynetcs) rufijpes^ 

 DeGeer, has also become spread over the whole globe. 



Section II. EETEROMERA. 



Five joints in the anterior and middle Uirsi, and four joints in the hind tarsi, the joints being vsually 

 slender and bare, or at most, sparsely haired or spinous. 



The Heteromera constitute the second principal division of Coleopte- 

 rous insects, distinguished primarily, as the name implies, by the diverse 

 number of joints in their tarsi, or feet. This character is remarkably 

 uniform, only two or three excexitional cases having been detected in 

 all the known insects of this section ; and as but few of them are of 

 very small size, the number of tarsal joints is usually easily determined. 

 It is also seen by the above formula that the tarsal joints in the insects 

 of this, as of the preceding section, are usually slender and clothed, 

 at most, with scattered hairs or bristles, thus strongly contrasting with 

 the dilated brush-like and bilobed tkrsi of the two succeeding sections. 



This section embraces an extensive series of beetles, though less 

 numerous than the first and third sections. Although most of them 

 are vegetable feeders, at least in the imago state, comparatively few 

 subsist upon growing plants, and but few, even of these, have been 

 known to increase to such an extent as to become injurious to cultivated 

 crops. The principal exceptions to this statement are the common meal- 

 worms belonging to the genus Tenebrio, and the Lyttm or Cautharides, 

 which are sometimes seriously destructive to the foliage of vegetables, 

 especially that of the potato. 



The Heteromera comprise two very diverse groui)s of beetles, which 

 have, indeed, scarcely any characters in common except the number of 

 tarsal joints. 



The first division, of which the well known Cantharides may be taken 

 as the leading type, is distinguished by having the head wider than the 

 anterior part of the thorax and attached to it by a short neck ; by the 

 elytra being comparatively thin and flexible ; by their frequently diver- 

 sified colors ; their active diurnal habits ; and the parasitic character of 

 many of their larvae. 



The other section, which may be represented by the common black 

 Tenebrio or meal-beetle, is distinguished from the foregoing by having 

 the head partially immersed in the thorax; their hard and inflexible 

 elytra ; their obscure and mostly black or brown colors ; and by their 

 being vegetable feeders in both the perfect and the larva states. 



The first of these divisions contains a considerable number of sufli- 

 ciently distinct and well marked families ; but many of the minor groups 



