which are injurious to vegetation. 219 



Of the first, Coleoptera, or Beetles, there is a large num- 

 ber indigenous to the State. Their ravages are mostly 

 confined to the larva or grub form, though some devour 

 greedily foliage even when perfected, or in an insect condi- 

 tion. Others again are decidedly useful, as for instance : 



"The predaceous ground-beetles, the diving beetles, the lady-birds, 

 and some others, are eminently serviceable by preying upon caterpillars, 

 plant-lice, and other noxious or destructive insects. The water-lovers, 

 rove-beetles, carrion-beetles, skin-beetles, bone-beetles, and various kinds 

 of dung-beetles, and clocks act the useful part of scavengers, by removing 

 carrion, dung, and other filth, upon which alone they and their larvae sub- 

 sist. Many Coleoptera live altogether on agarics, mushrooms, and toad- 

 stools, plants of very little use to man, many of them poisonous, and in a 

 state of decay often offensive ; these fungus-eaters are therefore to be reck- 

 oned among our friends. There are others, such as the stag-beetles, 

 some spring-beetles, darkling beetles, and many bark-beetles, which, liv- 

 ing under the bark, and in the trunks and roots of old trees, though they 

 may occasionally prove injurious, must, on the whole, be considered as 

 serviceable, by contributing to destroy, and reduce to dust, plants that 

 have passed their prime, and are fast going to decay. And, lastly, the 

 blistering-beetles have, for a long time, been employed with great benefit 

 in the healmg art." 



The second order, Orthoptera, Grasshoppers, Crickets, 

 4'c. " prey on other insects, are injurious to our house- 

 hold possessions, or destructive to vegetation." 



The third, Hemiptera, Bugs, Locusts, Plant Lice, many 

 of which "live entirely on the juices of animals, and by 

 this means, destroy great numbers of noxious insects; but 

 the benefits are more than counterbalanced by the injuries 

 committed by the domestic kinds, and by the numerous 

 tribes of plant-bugs, locusts or cicadse, tree-hoppers, plant- 

 lice, bark-lice, mealy-bugs, and the like, that suck the juices 

 of plants, and require the greatest care and watchfulness on 

 our part to keep them in check." 



The fourth, Neuroptera, insects with netted wings, of 

 which, the lace-winged flies may be especially noticed for 

 their eminent service in devouring vast numbers of the 

 plant-lice. 



The fifth, Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths, whose lar- 

 vae or caterpillars are too well known for their villanous 

 tricks. 



The sixth, Hymenoptera, Saw-flies, Bees, Wasps, Sj'c, 

 including the useful and the injurious in their group, some 

 contributing to the "sweets of life," and others to the "bit- 

 ter," of which latter are sundry gall-producers of noted 



