XVII INSECTA: COLEOPTERA 251 



Sub -order 2 : Clavicornia. 

 Garden Beetles with Clubbed Antennae (Clavicom Beetles). 



Ladybirds are perhaps the best known, and 

 (Coccinemdae) *^®° some of the most useful of beetles to the 

 gardener, for throughout their lives they feed on 

 the green-fly {Aphides) that do so much harm by sucking the 

 juices of plants (see p. 284). The adult beetle, with its 

 brightly coloured body, usually red with black spots, is 



FiQ. ISl. — The Two-spotted Ladybird {OoccineUa bi-punctata). 



Different stages in its life-history, on a rose-twig ; i, imago ; p, pupa ; I, larva ; 



g, green-fiy on which the larvae are feeding. (Natural size.) 



constantly to be seen from early spring till late summer. 

 The upper side -of the body is very convex, and so curved 

 that from above little of the head can be seen. The 

 antennae are very short and slightly clubbed. There are 

 two species which are particularly common — the "two- 

 spotted " and the " seven-spotted " ladybirds. They feed on 

 the Aphides, and lay their little clusters of yellow eggs on the 

 plant near their food. 



The larvae which hatch out are active little six-legged 

 creatures, which hunt the green-fly and devour them vora- 

 ciously. In four or five weeks' time the larva is full grown, and 

 is then longer than the beetle, and has a rough dark-grey 

 body, spotted with black and yellow (Fig. 182). It now 



