174 MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



BEETLES. 



Beetles are readily distinguished from the other 

 insect tribes on account of their first pair of wings 

 being changed into hard horny coverings, or elytra, 

 which protect and conceal the hind wings when they 

 are at rest. Except by the eye of the Naturalist 

 these insects are seldom seen on the wing ; in cross- 

 ing sandy heaths near the sea, the beautiful Tiger- 

 Beetles will, however, occasionally start up beneath 

 the feet ; in the woods the Springing-Beetles will be 

 seen alighting on the leaves, and often in an evening 

 stroll the poet's well-known lines,- — 



" Save where the Beetle wheels his drony flight/' 



is brought vividly before the mind by the steady 

 course of the Dor- and the S tag-Beetle. The ex- 

 treme diversity of form often assumed by these case- 

 winged insects may be well shewn by contrasting 

 the curious Mormolyce of Java, with its flattened 

 leaf-like body and elongated head, with the leaping 

 Mordella in which the head is entirely concealed, 

 and the elytra pointed and narrow ; or by compar- 

 ing the diving Dyticus, with its compact and horn- 

 less body and oar-shaped feet, with the long horned 

 South American Acrocinus or long legged Harle- 

 quin-Beetle ; or again, the Elephant Balaninus, with 

 its arched back and slender proboscis, with the de- 

 pressed form and powerful mandibles of the Cicin- 

 delidce. In like manner what shall we say to the 

 remarkable Kangaroo -Beetle, with its enormous 

 thighs, when contrasted with the short-legged Byr~ 



