THE BEETLES 



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typical form with red elytra marked with two black spots, and others in which 

 the elytra are entirely black, one meets with almost every intermediate condition. 

 The larvae of these species may of ten -be seen walking about on leaves that are 

 infested with green fly. They may be recognized by their slate-blue color, marked 

 with some yellow dots, and by the greed with which they devour the aphides. 

 The larvae, when about five or six weeks old, are ready to pupate. Fixing them- 

 selves by the tail end to a leaf, they cast their skin, and the pupee, resting upon the 

 cast-off larval skin, remain attached to the leaf. The beetles emerge about eight 

 days later, so that the whole course of development from the egg to the perfect in- 

 sect is completed in less than a couple of months. 



LADYBIRDS. 



i. Micraspis duodecimpunctata (natural size and enlarged); 2. Coccinella septempunctata; 3. t,arva (enlarged); 4. 

 C. impustulata; 5. C. bipunctata and dark variety; 6. Chilocorus bipustulatus. 



