COLEOPTEEOUS INSECTS. 81 



With helmet-heads, and dragon-scales adorned, 

 The mighty myriads, now securely scorned, 

 Would mock the majesty of man's high birth, 

 Despise his bulwarks, and unpeople earth. 



To those who have never had an opportunity of 

 inspecting a well-stored cabinet of Coleoptera, or 

 whose attention has never been drawn to the observ- 

 ance of the living insects in their native haunts, it 

 is not easy to convey an adequate conception of the 

 variety of forms which they assume. An examina- 

 tion of the accompanying plates will afford a more 

 satisfactory notion of this than can easily be con- 

 veyed by description. The most common figure 

 of the outline of the body is oblong or oval ; fre- 

 quently it is cylindrical or linear, that is, having the 

 sides parallel with each other, sometimes orbicular, 

 and occasionally almost square. These may be re- 

 garded as the primary or dominating forms, but they 

 are subject to an endless variety of modifications, 

 and are variously blended with each other. The 

 surface is commonly convex, and the under side 

 rather flat, so that a transverse section forms a seg- 

 ment of a circle ; sometimes, however, the upper 

 side is depressed, and the under side somewhat 

 convex. The length of the body usually exceeds 

 the breadth, but in some instances the transverse 

 diameter is longest. The surface is frequently ren- 

 dered unequal by numerous elevations and depres- 

 sions, which cause the creatures " to resemble so 

 many pigmy Atlases bearing on their backs a mi- 



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