THE BEETLE 61 



In consequence of this capacity for adaptation there are more 

 species of beetles than of any other group of animals. Roughly 

 speaking, one-half of all the insects and one-fourth of all the 

 species of animals are beetles. 



Some of the habitats occupied by beetles we shall now con- 

 sider. Many beetles run on the surface of the ground even 

 during the day. Such are the Running or Tiger beetles. 

 Some live on the ground under stones during the day and go 

 out at night on foraging expeditions. Others live a great deal 

 of the time in the air, as, for example, the Fireflies. 

 Another kind, of which the Potato-beetle is an example, 

 lives on plants. Certain others, such as the meal-beetles 

 and the household pest known as the Buffalo-bug, live 

 buried in dry vegetable matter. In their larval state many 

 beetles live in the trunks of trees. Still other forms live in 

 carrion and decaying vegetable matter, and finally there are 

 many kinds that spend their entire life in water. 



In respect to their food beetles are equally adaptalile. Some, 

 like the Tiger and Ladybird beetles, live exclusively on live 

 animals ; others, like the Potato-beetle, feed on the foliage of 

 plants. Many, hke the Snout-beetles, suck the juices of fruits. 

 Others feed on dry animal or vegetable matter. Still others 

 devour carrion, and a very few are parasitic on other animals. 

 In so far as certain beetles feed upon other carnivorous species 

 of insects, as do certain Tiger and Carrion beetles, or upon small 

 fish, as do some of the Dytiscidse, or upon domestic bees, hke 

 certain allies of the weevils, they may be indirectly injuring 

 man. Of all the famihes of beetles, probably the leaf-eaters 

 cause greatest destruction ; next to them come the weevils, 

 followed by the " longhorns " and the others. Every part of 

 the plant has its coleopterous enemy. As Le Conte and Horn 



