BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [14] 



Fig. 8. — Sawfly and Larva. Pristiphora grossulariai: 

 a, larva; 6, imago, "Walsh. 



all of which are vegetable feeders iii the larval state, those of the 

 first' family boring into trees, and those of the second either feed- 

 ing externally on leaves or in- 

 closed in galls. They are at 

 once distinguished from the 

 other Hymenoptera by the 

 larvse having true legs, which, 

 however, in the case of the Horn- 

 tails, are very small and ex- 

 articulate. The larvse of many 

 Saw-flies have, besides, prolegs, 

 which are, however, always dis- 

 tinguishable from those of Lepidoi^terous larvse by being more numerous 

 and by having no hooks. 



"Order COLEOPTERA {^/.oX^o-, a sheath; ttte/jov, wing). Beetles or 

 or Shield-winged Insects. Characterized by having four wings, the 

 front pair (called elytra) horny or leathery, and 

 usually united down the back with a straight 

 suture when at rest, the hind ones membranous 

 and folded uj) under the elytra when at rest. 

 Transformations complete. 



"This is an order of great importance, and 

 in the vast number and diversity of the species 

 comprised in it outranks any of the others. The 

 ease with which the insects of this order are 

 obtained and preserved make it one of the most 

 attractive to the amateur, and beetles are, per- 

 haps, of all insects, the best known and under- 

 stood in the x)opular mind. For the same reason they have, in the 

 perfect state, received most attention from the entomologists, but their 

 transformations and preparatory forms yet offer a wide and inviting 



Fig. 9.— A Chafer, Cotalpalan- 

 igera. (After Packard.) 



b c 



Fig. 10. — A Longicorii, Sapei-da Candida, a, larva; 6, piii>a; c, beetle. 



field for the student. The simplest and best-known classification of the 

 beetles is the tarsal system, founded on the number of joints to the 

 tarsi, by which we get four great sections: (1) Pbntamera, in which 



