COLEOPTERA. I2? 



ment of the insects require it, the legs are adapted to various other purposes. 

 Beetles that jump usually owe their leaping powers to the greatly thickened 

 femora and straight and relatively long tibia? of the hind-legs. It would, however, 

 be a mistake to suppose that when a beetle has thickened and strongly developed 

 hind-legs it must consequently be able to jump. Some burrowing species, and 

 others that are not very active in their movements, have very thick hind-legs ; 

 though, as a rule, it is the front pair of legs which is thickened and otherwise 

 modified to serve as digging organs in those beetles that burrow underground. In 

 aquatic beetles the swimming legs are disposed like oars, and have all their parts 

 broad and flat, while their breadth is further increased by rows of bristles. Either 

 the hind-legs only, which is the rule, or the middle pair also, as in the whirligig 

 beetles (Gyrinidce), may be thus transformed into swimming organs. The coxae, or 

 basal joints of the legs, vary much in shape and in the mode in which they are 

 inserted in their sockets on the under side of the thorax. Those of each pair are 

 sometimes close together, sometimes widely separated from another; while a 

 longer or shorter distance may intervene between the coxa? of the different pairs of 

 legs, and especially between those of the two hinder pairs. Considerable import- 

 ance attaches to the number of joints in the tarsi or feet. In classifying beetles 

 this number is one of the first things to be noticed. If a beetle has five joints in 

 each of its tarsi, it is placed in that section of the order which is known as the 

 Pentamera ; if it appears to have only four joints in each foot, it belongs to the 

 Tetramera ; and if but three, to the Trimera. When there are five joints in each 

 of the four anterior feet, and only four in the hind-feet, the beetle may be regarded 

 as one of the Heteromera. To these general rules there are a few exceptions which 

 need not be discussed here ; but we must point out that although in the Tetramera 

 the tarsi appear to be four-jointed, and in the Trimera three-jointed, they are really 

 composed of five joints and four respectively. The fourth joint in the one case, 

 and the third in the other, are, however, usually so small as not to be noticed 

 except upon very close examination. The abdomen is never stalked in beetles, but 

 attached to the thorax by a broad base, which is applied against the posterior 

 coxae ; exceptionally, however, as in certain mimicking species, its base may be 

 more or less narrowed. It is generally somewhat flattened in shape ; and on the 

 upper side eight segments are usually distinguishable, which, so far as protected by 

 the elytra, have a soft and but slightly horny integument. Five or six segments 

 are generally visible on the ventral side, but in certain cases the number may be 

 reduced. The terminal segments are usually retracted within the abdomen, and 

 completely hidden from view, but in the females of many species they can be 

 exserted in the form of a tubular ovipositor, which enables the insect to lay its 

 eggs deep in the crevices of bark. 



Although beetles do not always exhibit differences in external form by which 

 the sexes may be distinguished, such differences frequently exist, and are some- 

 times of the most pronounced character. As a rule, the male is more slenderly 

 built than the female, and has Longer and more fully developed antenna'; his eyes 

 also are often larger, a nd in the length and shape of the legs, and in the width 

 and structure of the tarsi, differences in the two sexes are frequently to be noticed. 

 When the male is fully equipped for living, the female may he without wings, or 



