THEIR RELATION TO PLANTS 



59 



caying animal and vegetable material of all kinds. 

 A very few, comparatively, are predatory and yet a 

 smaller number are feeders upon living vegetation; 

 none of them in any very characteristic way nor so as 

 to threaten the existence of the plant attacked; but 

 still giving variety to the series. 



These are followed by the Serricornia, in which the 

 antennae have the joints more or less trigonate, or 



FIG. 19. Antennal structure of Coleoptera. a, filiform; b, clavate; c, serrate; 

 d, lamellate; e, moniliform. 



saw-toothed, and the feet 5-jointed as a rule; always 

 with the same number on all feet. Among these the 

 vast majority are vegetable feeders, but this vegeta- 

 tion may be dead or alive, and most of the feeding is 

 on woody tissue rather than foliage. The " click beetles, ' ' 

 "snapping beetles" or Elateridce are characteristic 

 members of this series, and as wire- worms their larvae 

 are very often feeders on root tissue. The beetles gain 

 their common names by the loose-jointed structure 



