HO INSECTS DIAGBAM 6 



OEDEE COLEOPTEE/V. 



The insects which belong to the order Coleoptera have four 



wings. The two first are hard and 

 horny, and are called the elytra ', 

 the two others are thin, transparent 

 and membranous ; they close them 

 by folding them transversely, and 

 then plane them under the first 

 wings, which cover them like a 

 sheath. This can be seen eery 

 well in a cockchafer which has just 

 boon stopped in its flight; the 

 wings are still unfolded, and reach- 

 ing beyond the elytra, under which 

 they are gradually seen to disappear 

 Great cockchafer, male. Coleoptera undergo a perfect meta- 

 morphosis. They have #11 lateral jaws for bruising. They can 

 in some cases bite with them, but they do not pierce like gnats. 

 They have no poison apparatus at the end of their abdomen like 

 bees. A beetle can therefore always be safely taken into the 

 hand to examine it, for it can do 110 injury beyond nipping the 

 skin, sometimes a little roughly, with its mandibles. 



Cicindelidce. These are small carnivorous beetles, and 

 consequently useful to man. The cicind elidso or tiger beetles 

 are known by having their corslet (which is that portion of the 

 thorax between the neck and the base of the wings) narrower 

 than the head and elytra. These are insects which fly in full 

 sunshine. They are of a beautiful green, with yellow spots. 

 They are swift, and pursue their prey, which always consists 

 of small insects, with great eagerness. In the larva state, the 

 cicindelidee dig a cylindrical hole in the ground, carrying away 

 the earth and gravel. Their head has a hollow above which 

 they use for a hod ; they go and empty it away from the hole, 



