170 CLASS INSECTA. 



THE FIFTH ORDER OF INSECTS. 



Thk Coleopteka, Eleutherata, Fab., 



Have four wings, the upper two crustaceous, in the form of 

 scales, horizontal, and uniting together, at the internal edge, 

 in a right line ; mandibles and jaws ; the lower wings merely 

 folded crosswise, and covered by two others which form a 

 sort of cases, and which are designated either under that 

 name or that of elytra.* 



They are, of all insects, the most numerous and the best 

 known. The singular forms, the brilliant and agreeable co- 

 lours by Avhich some of their species are characterised, the 

 volume of their body, the more solid consistence of their in- 

 teguments, which renders their preservation more easy, and 

 the numerous advantages derived from the study of the 

 variety of forms in their external organs, have attracted the 

 particular attention of naturalists to this order. Their head 

 presents two antennas of different forms, and of which the 

 number is almost always eleven. They have two eyes with 



* See, for the anatomical characters of the insects of this order, the 

 Annals of Natural Science, vol viii. p. 36', where M. Diifour presents a 

 summary of them. 



