■^ww 



182 INVEKTEBRATH A.MMALii. 



metallic, colours, and their voracious habits, though many of them 

 feed u]50n vegetable matters. 



Of the enormous number of known Beetles, the only one which 

 can be said to be of any decided use to man is the so-called Blister- 

 beetle," or "Spanish Y\y" {CantlntrU vesicatoria). This handsome 

 insect is a native of Southern Eur(j])e, especially of Italy, Spain, and 

 France, and lives u]ion the leaves of the ash, lilac, elder, and poplai-. 

 It is largely collected and exported for medicinal purposes, as it 

 yields one of the most generally used and efficient of blisters. 



Many of the Colcoptera inflict great injury upon wild oi- cultivated 

 ])lants, some of them being most destructive in their adult condition, 

 while others do most harm in their larval state. It is to be remem- 

 bered, however, that the C'oleopteiri, like the JJiptera, discharge 

 important and highly beneficial functions by destroying vast quan- 

 tities of decaying organic mattei', which would otherwise prove 

 injurious to man. 



