64 INSECTS. 



though they can hardly be considered graceful, the gait 

 of the water-beetle on land strongly resembling the 

 hurried shuffle, or " scuttling" motion of a frightened 

 turtle. 



This variety of habit implies variety of structure, and 

 it follows hence that, with observation, we may learn to 

 recognise those peculiarities of form which attend certain 

 modes of life, and that thus we shall, in some cases at 

 least, be enabled to read, in the form of a hitherto un- 

 known insect, something of its life and character. 



The number of British beetles being so great, it is im- 

 possible here to enumerate even the families, much Jess 

 the genera, in any manner which would be instructive or 

 interesting to the reader ;* and only a very slight out- 

 line of the order will be attempted, illustrated by examples 

 taken from among common beetles, which may be 

 already familiar to the reader, or which he may easily 

 procure and recognise. An examination and compari- 

 son of these will enable him to render himself familiar 

 with the characters used in scientific divisions. 



The number of the tarsal joints (see p. #5, fig. 9, e) is 

 used to divide the beetles into four large sections. These 

 are 



PENTAMERA, in which all the tarsi are five-jointed. 



HETEROMERA, in which the four front tarsi are five- 

 jointed, the hind tarsi four-jointed. 



TETRAMERA, in which all the tarsi are four-jointed. 



TRIMERA, in which all the tarsi are three-jointed. 



The word pseudo (false) is sometimes prefixed to 

 -tetramera and -trimera, as these are only apparently 



* In the series to which the present work belongs, one interesting volume 

 is devoted to this branch of entomology. "British Beetles, an Introduc- 

 tion to the Study of our Indigenous Coleoptera," by E. C. Rye. 



