SECRETARY'S REPORT. 147 



other uses in medicine, but all belong to the class of vegetable- 

 feeders, two or three species in this State attacking the potato 

 vines and other plants, and often doing considerable damage ; 

 these are possessed of the same qualities, in a greater or less 

 degree, and may be collected and made as serviceable, as tiie 

 imported blistering-beetle, or " Spanish fly." 



Most of the remaining families of Coleoptera are either inju- 

 rious to vegetation, or neutral as regards agriculture, some 

 feeding exclusively on fungous plants or decaying wood, and 

 others upon putrifying animal matter, like many of the short- 

 winged Sfnp/ii/linidw, or rove-beetles ; some of these, however, 

 have been known to attack and destroy other insects, and 

 should be in general regarded as belonging to the beneficial 

 class, as they aid in removing offensive substances from the 

 surface of the earth, and in assimilating them with the soil, 

 ■which tends to enrich and fertilize it. These species may be 

 recognized by their short elytra, which usually do not cover 

 half the abdomen, and their strong, sharp mandibles, as well as 

 by the active motions and the hal)it of curving the abdomen 

 upward and forward toward the head ; from this peculiarity 

 they are in some parts called " devil's coach-horses," and 

 " cock-tails." 



The second Order of the modern system of classification, 

 Orthoptera, or insects with straight, nearly parallel wing covers, 

 legs fitted, for the most part, for leaping, and comprising the 

 true locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, tfcc., are represented in 

 New England only by those species injurious to vegetation or 

 other property of the agriculturist and will not require extended 

 mention in this place. 



The third Order, Neuroptera, or nerve-winged insects, consists 

 almost entirely of insectivorous species and is specially to be 

 regarded as friendly to the farmer. The " dragonflies " or 

 " devil's-needles " are to be seen during the whole summer, 

 swiftly darting and circling through the air, seizing and 

 devouring the moths and butterflies that cross their patli. In 

 passing a pool or brook the sharp rattle of their thin, crisp wings 

 strikes the ear and calls the attention to the sportive flight of 

 these terrible destroyers. Moths and butterflies laden with eggs, 

 that venture from the security of the foliage to wing their 

 sluggish flight to some appropriate place to deposit their burden, 



