INSECTS. 



COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 



THE insects of the Linnean order Coleqptera have crustaceous elytra 

 or wing-cases, which shut together and form a longitudinal suture 

 the back. 



OF THE 8CABABJB0S, OR BEETLE TRIBE. 



THE larvas or grubs of these insects have each six feet. In their 

 ge leral appearance they are not much unlike the Caterpillars of some 

 of the Butterflies, having their bodies composed of rings, and being 

 somewhat hairy. Most of them live entirely under the surface of the 

 ground, and feed on the roots of plants, &c. Their pupa, or chrysalis^ 

 generally lies dormant in the earth till the perfect insect bursts out. 



Beetles inhabit and feed in various situations. Some are found in 

 the dung of animals, or in the earth immediately under the dung. 

 Others live on the leaves of trees ; and others on flowers. 



THE BULL-COMBER, CLOCK-BEETLE, AND SPRING BEETLE. 



These insects are all nourished, both in their larva and perfect state, 

 in the dung of animals, which they are able to 

 discover by their acute faculty of smell, or other- 

 wise, at an immense distance. Under these sub- 

 stances they dig, in the earth, cylindrical holes, 

 of considerable depth, in which they deposit 

 their eggs. 



They usually fly in the evening, towards the 

 end of twilight. The droning noise produced by 

 their wings, at that time, is often heard, particu- 

 larly during the summer season. When touched, 

 these insects counterfeit death; but they do not 

 contract their legs, in the manner of the Der- 

 mestes, and some other Beetles: they stretch 

 them out, so as to give the appearance of stiffness and rigidity, aa 

 though the animals had been some time dead. 



471 



CLOCK-BEETLE. 



