CHAPTER II. 



COLEOPTERA. 



BEETLES. SCARAB/EIANS. GROUND-BEETLES. TREE-BEETLES. COCK- 

 CHAKEKS OR MAY-BKKTLES. FLOWER-BEETLES. STAG-BEETLES. Bu- 

 PRESTIAXS, OR SAW-HORNED BORERS. SPRING-BEETLES. TIMBER-BEETLES. 

 WEEVILS. CYLINDRICAL BARK-BEETLES. CAPRICORN-BEETLES, OR 

 LONCJ-HORNED BORERS. LEAF-BKETLES. CRIOCERIANS. LEAF-MINING 

 BEETLES. TORTOISE-BEETLES. CHRYSOMEHANS. CANTHARIDES. 



THE wings of beetles are covered and concealed by a pair 

 of horny cases or shells, meeting in a straight line on 

 the top of the back, and usually having a little triangular or 

 semicircular piece, called the scutel, wedged between their 

 bases. Hence the order to which these insects belong is 

 called COLEOPTERA, a word signifying wings in a sheath. 

 Beetles * are biting-insects, and are provided with two pairs 

 of jaws moving sidewise. Their young are grubs, and un- 

 dergo a complete transformation in coming to maturity. 



At the head of this order Linnasus placed a group of 

 insects, to which he gave the name of SCARAB^EUS. It 

 includes the largest and most robust animals of the beetle 

 kind, many of them remarkable for the singularity of their 

 shape, and the formidable horn-like prominences 'with which 

 they are furnished, together with others, which, though 

 they do not present the same imposing appearance, require 

 to be noticed, on account of the injury sustained by vegeta- 

 tion from their attacks. An immense number of Scarabac- 

 ians (ScARAB^iD^;), as they may be called, are now known, 

 differing greatly from each other, not only in structure, but 



* Beetle, in old English, bell, 6ytf, or Intel, means a biter, or insect that bites. 



