362 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



The tarsus is generally composed of five joints, sometimes 

 fewer, never more, and its last joint is usually furnished with 

 two hooked claws. 



The larvae of Coleoptera are generally composed of thirteen 

 segments, including the head. The body is generally soft and 

 fleshy, the head horny, and the mouth adapted for masti- 

 cation, the food being sometimes of an animal and sometimes 

 of a vegetable nature. The antennae are small, usually ot 

 three or four joints, with ocelli at their base. They have three 

 pairs of legs attached to the thorax, and rarely anal pro-legs or 

 fleshy tubercles ; or they may be devoid of feet (as in the 

 weevils). The pupa is sometimes enclosed in a cocoon, and 

 is always quiescent ; and the parts of the perfect insect are 

 always distinctly recognisable in the pupa. 



The order Coleoptera includes all those insects commonly 

 known as " Beetles," and comprises an enormous number of 

 genera and species. They are remarkable, as a general rule, 

 for their hard polished integument, their glittering, often 

 metallic colours, and their voracious habits. 



The order Coleoptera was divided by Latreille into four sections, in 

 accordance with the number of the joints in the tarsi ; and though the 

 resulting arrangement is not strictly natural, this classification is generally 

 followed. The four sections founded by Latreille are : 



1. TRIMERA. Tarsus three-jointed. Ex. Lady-birds (Cocdnellidce). 



2. TETRAMERA. Tarsus four-jointed. Ex. The Longicorn Beetles 



(Longicornia), the Weevils (Rhynchophora), &c. 



3. HETEROMERA. Tarsus of the two anterior pairs of legs five-jointed, 



of the posterior pair four-jointed. Ex. The Blister Beetles (Can- 

 tharidcz), and the great family of the Tenebrionidcz. 



4. PENTAMERA. Tarsus five-jointed in all the legs. Ex. Soldier- 



beetles (Telephorus\ Glow-worm (Lampyris), the Elateridce (the 

 larvae known as " wire - worms ") the beautiful Buprestida, the 

 great group of the Lamellicorn Beetles (such as the Stag-beetle, 

 Cockchafer, Dung-beetle, &c.), the Burying beetles (Necrophortts\ 

 the Devil's-coach-horses (StaphyUnid<z\ the Water-beetles (Hydro- 

 philida and Dytiscidcz}, the Whirligigs (Gyrinidce), the Ground- 

 beetles (Carabid<z\ and the Tiger-beetles (Cicindelidce). 



LITERATURE. 

 GENERAL WORKS. 



1. " Glieder-fiissler : Arthropoda," in 'Bronn's Klassen und Ordnungen 



des Thier-Reichs.' Gerstaecker. 



2. ' ' Regne Animal. " Cuvier. 



3. " Sur un nouveau rapprochement a etablir entre les classes qui com- 



posent le regne animal. " Cuvier. 'Annales du Museum.' 1812. 



4. " Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertebres." Lamarck. 1835-45. 



5. " Handbuch der Zoologie." Carus und Gerstaecker. 1863. 



