335 



CHAPTER VI. 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ORDERS OF PTILOTA. 



The first order, Coleoptera, is of very great extent, and is 

 distinguished by having the wings inclosed in a case, com- 

 posed of a pair of scaly pieces, meeting along the back in a 

 straight line. The wings themselves are of large size, and 

 of a membranaceous texture, and when unemployed are shut 

 up in several transverse folds, the first of which occurs be- 

 yond the middle. These scales are termed elytra, and, 

 shutting upon the back, they conceal the upper sm-face of 

 the abdomen, as well as the wings, from view. The insects 

 themselves are, for the most part, known by the name of 



beetles, although the 

 term is not exclusively 

 applied to them. Thus 

 the blister-fly {Can- 

 tharis) is a coleopte- 

 rous insect, as well as 

 the tm-nip-fly (Haltica 

 nemorum). On com- 

 paring a butterfly with 

 a cockchafer or dor, it 

 will be easy to perceive 

 that the latter is dis- 

 tinguished by the fol- 

 lowing character, — Wings two, memhranaceous, folded trans- 

 versely beneath two horny elytra, — which character precisely 



Shard-l)orue beetle. 



