278 DIVISION Ill. ARTICULATED ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. INSECTA. 
with magnifying glasses, through which they looked, as they would at a 
diorama, at landscapes, or buildings. 
At this exhibition thirty jleas went through military exercises, and 
stood upon their hind legs, armed with pikes, formed of very small 
splinters of wood. 
“Two fleas were harnessed to and drew a golden carriage, with four 
wheels and a postilion. A third flea was seated on the coach-box, and held 
a splinter of wood for a whip. Two other fleas drew a cannon on its ear- 
riage. These and other wonders were performed on polished glass. The 
flea-horses were fastened by a gold chain attached to the thighs of the hind 
legs, and which was never taken off. They had lived thus two years and a 
half, not one having died, and appeared to enjoy their mode of life. They 
were fed by being placed on a man’s arm, which they sucked.” 
ORDER V. COLEOPTERA. 
This order derives its name from the character of its wings, Coleoptera 
being a compound Greek word, —foleos, sheath, and pteron, wing, — 
signifying sheath-wings. These insects have four wings, of which the 
upper pair is crustaceous, and constitute the elytra or sheath. 
“The elytra and wings arise upon the lateral and superior margins of the 
hinder division of the thorax. The elytra are crustaceous, and in repose 
are applied one against the other in a straight line along the inner margin, 
or suture, and are always in a horizontal position. In almost every instance 
they hide the wings, which are large, and folded transversely. Many spe- 
cies are wingless; but the elytra are always present. The abdomen is 
sessile, or united to the thorax by its greatest width: it is composed on the 
outside of six or seven segments, membranous above, or of a consistence 
less firm than on the under side. 
“These insects, generally known under the English name of Beetles, are 
the most numerous and the best known of the insect tribes. Their singular 
forms, the brilliant colors exhibited by many of their species, the size of 
their bodies, the more solid texture of their teguments, which renders their 
preservation much more easy, and the numerous advantages to be derived 
from the investigation of such a variety of forms of their external organs, 
have merited for them the particular attention of naturalists. 
“The head is provided with two antenne of variable form, and of which 
the number of joints is generally eleven; two facetted eyes; no ocelli; and 
a mouth composed of an upper lip, two mandibles, mostly of a scaly con- 
sistence, two lower jaws (maxillw), each bearing one or two palpi, and a 
