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CHAPTER III. 



ON THE TEEMS USED IN DESCRIPTIONS OF 

 COLEOPTEEA. 



BEFORE acquiring a facility of noticing what are termed 

 the salient diagnostic characters of a Beetle, it will be 

 necessary, for the purposes of comparing notes with 

 other observers, to know the usual meaning given to 

 certain terms of description, and the parts of the ex- 

 ternal anatomy of the perfect insect : we will there- 

 fore now give a short list of such words as are either 

 not usually met with in common parlance, or have a 

 particular signification. These will be kept separate 

 from the parts of the body, which will be sufficiently 

 explained by the cuts. For a very full dictionary of 

 the terms used in this branch the student can refer to 

 Kirby and Spence's ( Introduction to Entomology ' 

 (original edition), but the following will be enough for 

 our present purpose. 



Ab, in composition, means a departure from. 

 Aciculate. As if scratched with a needle. 

 Aculeate. Produced to a point. 



Alutaceous. Covered with minute cracks j like mud, or 

 mosaic. 



