BEETLES 339 



of which it also spins a protecting envelope. The safest means df 

 protecting clothes and upholstery against this destructive insect is by 

 industriously beating them. The "white corn-worm," which often 

 does great damage in granaries, is the larva of the Corn Moth 

 (T. granella). 



ORDER II. : SHEATH-WINGS OR BEETLES 

 (COLEOPTERA). 



Mouth parts masticatory ; the first thoracic segment (prothorax) free ; 

 the fore-wings form covers (elytra) for the hind-wings. Hind-wings 

 membranous and folded together during rest. Metamorphosis complete. 



Family i : The Chafers, or Lamellicorn Beetles (Lamellicornia). 



The Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris). 



(Length 1 to li inches.) 



A. The Fully-developed Beetle. 



1. How it emerges from the Soil. — At the time when the "May- 

 bug " (name) makes its appearance in spring, to the great joy of the 

 children, it has already accomplished a long and arduous portion of its 

 life's journey. As long ago as the August of the preceding year it has 

 cast off its pupal shroud, and, still buried over a foot deep beneath the 

 soil, has developed into the perfect insect (see Section B, 1). When the 

 spring comes round it proceeds to work its way up to the light. 



(a) For this purpose it slowly burrows upward with its head, which 

 is covered above with a very thick and very prominent cephalic shield. 



(b) The last abdominal somite is prolonged into a strong spiny point, 

 the so-called " anal style," which the insect uses as a means of support 

 against the inequalities of the soil, at the same time pushing itself 

 upward by means of 



(c) The middle and posterior pairs of legs. The terminal spines of 

 the tibiae of these two legs assist in this operation by maintaining a 

 secure hold in the ground. (Anyone who has held a cockchafer in 

 his closed hand must have noticed the great strength which this animal 

 exerts in burrowing.) 



(d) In burrowing the beetle employs also the broad shovel-like tibiae 

 of the first pair of legs as shovelling or scraping implements (fossorial 

 legs ; compare with mole and mole-cricket). 



(e) These instruments require strong muscles to set them in action, 

 and hence the part of the body which includes these muscles, viz., the 



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