BEETLES AND FLOWERS 



nectar, which their mouth-parts, fringed with hair, enable 

 them to lick up easily. As the grubs are tree-borers, the beetles 



Fig. 92. Beetles with a Tongue Resembling That of a Butterfly 

 Belonging to the Genus Nemognatha 



Among the 100,000 or more described species of beetles, only two genera (Nemognatha and 

 Gnathium) have a long sucking-tongue 



are most common on flowers in or near woodlands, while on 

 the same flowers a mile away they may be entirely absent. 

 (Fig, 90, Nos. 1, 2, and 3.) The elongated head and prothorax 



191 



