ORDER I. BEETLES. 49 



the present, instead of being, as lie deserves, honored for his 

 self-denying devotion, loved as a friend, and recompensed 

 as a benefactor. Such things may be excused in the igno- 

 rant ; but why is it that in our so-called Halls of Learning 

 so little attention is paid to the study of the objects of Na- 

 ture, to their remarkable properties, and their wonderful or- 

 ganization, to the faculties which distinguish them from all 

 others, to their reciprocal affinities and harmonies, and to 

 the great chain which unites them all ? 



The fact that the study of Nature tends directly to the 

 civilization of a nation was well understood, more than a 

 century and a half ago, by that ingenious, self-made man, 

 Peter the Great, of Russia. He conceived the idea that a 

 love for this department of science would contribute much 

 toward the civilization and refinement of his barbarian sub- 

 jects, and accordingly he established, at an enormous ex- 

 pense, a large museum of Natural History at St. Peters- 

 burg ; and in order to induce his whisky-loving subjects to 

 go there, he ordered a glass of brandy to be presented to 

 every visitor. 



That Muscovite barbarian certainly exhibited more com- 

 mon sense than the Congressman, in our modern time, to 

 whom Wilson showed his work on American Ornithology, 

 and who replied, " We do not at all want such books, for 

 any one can see birds every dny in our woods and orchards, 

 without paying one penny for it." 



But to return to the Herbivorous Beetles. The first of 

 which we shall speak are the SPRING BEETLES (Elater), 

 which are also called Skippers, or Snapping-bugs. They 

 are distinguished from all others by having an organ by 

 means of which they are enabled, when laid on their backs, 

 to spring up into the air and recover their standing posture, 

 which they could not otherwise effect, as their legs are very 

 short. This organ is on the under side of the thorax, be- 

 tween the fore-legs, directed toward the extremity of the 



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