OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CLASS — INSECTA 187 



hranous wings that are covered, when at rest, by a pair of hard, 

 horny wing covers, called the elytra. The metamorphosis is 

 complete and the mouth parts are formed for biting. 



The beetles differ from other insects in having this pair 

 of hard, horny wing 

 covers (Fig. 132). 

 They may be told 

 almost surely by this 

 character alone. The 

 front wings of the 

 grasshoppers and 

 crickets are somewhat 

 similar but thinner. 



The Colorado potato 

 beetle is a familiar ex- 

 ample (Fig. 133). It 

 is a yellow-lined beetle 



IT •, 11. 1 Fig. 130. — Common mosquito, enlarged. 



eggs close together in a bunch, usually on the under sides 

 of the leaves of potatoes. The soft red larvte soon appear 

 and immediately begin to eat the leaves. 

 The larvse keep on eating and growing 

 for two or three weeks and then go into 

 the ground to pupate. 



The May beetles are abundant in 

 spring, flying in through the windows 

 and bumping about the room. Their 



Fig. 131. — Horsefly. i-jj.ii j. c j 



eggs are laid at the roots oi grass, and 

 the white grubs live in the soil, eating off the grass roots. 

 The larva lives in the ground two or three years and changes 

 to a pupa in an earthen cell from which the adult emerges 

 in the spring of the year. 



