CHAPTER VIII 

 OUR BEETLE FRIENDS 



OF the great group of insects comprised 

 under the order Coleoptera, or Beetles, it 

 is very difficult to give anything like an adequate 

 description ; indeed one might easily fill a series 

 of volumes of encyclopedic proportions, and 

 still leave unrecorded a vast amount of interest- 

 ing material concerning these wonderful insects. 

 At the present time over one hundred 

 thousand beetles are known to science; while 

 even if we confined our attentions to the 

 members of the order inhabiting Great Britain, 

 we should find that they exceed three thousand 

 in number, or nearly one-fourth of the insect 

 fauna of the country. Naturally, in such a vast 

 concourse of insect life, we shall find not only 

 the most diverse shapes and sizes, but also great 

 variation in mode of living. While many beetles 

 are directly the foes of man, ravaging his crops 

 and stores of grain, others must be numbered 

 among his truest friends, and, indeed, in tropical 

 countries, acting as the great scavengers of the 

 forests, render invaluable service. It is chiefly 

 to the examination of one or two of these beetle 

 friends that I propose to devote the present 

 chapter. 



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