THE BEETLES 



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thaii twelve hundred species. In color they offer little variety, being mostly either 

 black, dark blue, or green, the elytra being occasionally spotted with red or yellow. 

 They are compactly oval or oblong oval in form, and nearly always present a highly 

 polished appearance. The antennae are short, with a long basal joint and a very 

 distinct terminal club, and, as a rule, are capable of being turned back into grooves 

 beneath the thorax. The elytra are truncate at the tips, leaving the last two seg- 

 ments of the abdomen exposed; they are generally marked with a series of finely 

 impressed longitudinal lines, the number and disposition of which afford useful 

 characteristics in distinguishing between the different species of a genus. In the 

 division of the family to which Hister belongs, the prosternum is produced in front, 

 forming a prominent "chin-piece" which serves to protect the lower part of the 

 head when the latter is retracted. In Saprinus the 

 " chin-piece ' ' is wanting. 



The Nitidulidce have some resemblance in exter- 

 nal form to the Histeridce, though they are generally 

 of smaller size, with their integuments less hard, and 

 their colors a little more varied. The elytra are 

 slightly truncate behind, leaving a variable number of 

 the segments of the abdomen exposed. The antennae 

 are eleven jointed or, exceptionally, ten jointed, with 

 the last two or three joints forming a knob; the maxillae 

 have, as a rule, but a single lobe, and the tarsi are five 

 jointed, though in a few genera the males, at least, 

 have only four joints in the posterior tarsi. Many of 

 the species are found feeding and breeding in decaying 

 vegetable or animal substances, such as rotten wood, 

 bark, fungi, and in carcasses or bones; some frequent 

 the exuding sap of trees; while a very large number 

 are to be seen on flowers, among which are the 

 brightly-colored little beetles of the genus Meligethes. 

 The species figured (M. ceneus} is one of the com- 

 monest, and met with chiefly on the flowers or leaves 

 of cruciferous plants. In Germany these little beetles 

 are well known, on account of the depredations they 

 commit in crops of rape. A few days after emerging 

 from their winter sleep, the beetles lay their eggs in 

 the buds; in about a fortnight the larvae are hatched 

 and proceed to feed on the undeveloped or full-blown 

 flowers; while later on they attack the young pods, to 



which they do more damage than the beetles them- Meligethes ezneus (natural size 

 selves. The small family Byturidce may also be men- and greatly magnified) . 

 tioned here. The genus Byturus contains only four or 



five known species, which are confined to Europe and North America, and one of 

 which is familiar to gardeners and others as the ' ' raspberry beetle. ' ' This species 

 (B. tomentosus} is somewhat oblong in form, from an eighth to a sixth of an inch in 



