ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 71 



parts of the common little Gyrinus natator, serve to 

 impress it upon the recollection of the reader when once 

 seen, he will not easily forget it when once smelt. This 

 remark, however, does not apply to the other species of 

 Gyrinus.* 



The eggs are placed end to end in parallel lines upon 

 the leaves of water-plants. 



The second Subsection of Pentamera is RYPOPHAGA 

 (PVTTOC, RypO8,JUih), and consists of what may be called 

 scavengers of both land and water. They are distin- 

 guished from the preceding (the ravenous beetles) by the 

 form of the antennse, which are comparatively short and 

 more or less club-shaped, and by the maxillae, which have 

 but a single palpus. 



The first Subdivision of these are the water-lovers, 

 Philhydrida (0tAu, phileo, to love ; vSup, hydor, 

 water.) 



The best known of these is the very large Hydrophilus 

 Piceus or Hydrous Piceus, which greatly exceeds the 

 large Dyticus in size, and is fiercely predaceous in its 

 larval state. The perfect beetle is a quiet and peaceable 

 animal, which, notwithstanding the great strength and 

 completeness of its coat of mail, sometimes falls a 

 victim to its smaller carnivorous brethren. 



As in the Dyticus, there is a remarkable enlargement 

 in the fore tarsus of the male Hydrophilus, the last joint 

 forming a large triangular plate, furnished with spines. 

 The second pair of legs is also spinous, as in the 

 Dyticus the tarsi of the second pair correspond with 

 those of the first in being furnished with suckers. 



* It is supposed to arise from the voluntary emission of a volatile fluid. 

 The same thing occurs in many other beetles, as in the Carabus, the Bom- 

 bardier, and others. 



