THE DEFINITION OF A BEETLE. 



21 



From the other orders of this group (viz., the Diptera or flies, the 

 Lepidoptera or butterflies and moths and the Hymenoptera or ants, 

 bees and wasps), the Coleoptera may be known by having the front 

 wings or elytra not fitted for flight, but shell-like, reposing on the 

 lack of the body and fitted together along the middle in a straight 

 line or suture; inner wings membranous and folded beneath the 

 elytra; mouth with mandibles; lower lip not divided along the 

 middle. 



The name Coleoptera is derived from two Greek words, coleos, a 

 sheath, and pteron, a wing, and refers to the shield-like covering 

 afforded by the elytra. At the present time the Coleoptera are far 

 more numerous in species than any other order of insects, about 

 150,000 being known and named from the different regions of the 

 earth. Of these about 12,000 species are known from North Amer- 

 ica. While much more numerous than the flies, bees and butter- 

 flies, they are less often seen, as their habits are terrestrial rather 

 than aerial in nature. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF COLEOPTERA. 



As in other classes and orders of animal and plant life, the 

 beetles or Coleoptera of North America have been carefully studied 

 by various students, and to each species has been given a specific 

 Latin name. Each species has also been assigned to a certain genus, 

 or group of species agreeing in some one character or series of char- 

 acters, which also bears a Latin name. These two Latin names com- 

 bined, followed by the name or abbreviation of the person who first 

 recognized the beetle as an undescribed form and gave it a specific 

 name, comprise the name by which the beetle is or should be known 

 whenever it is spoken or written about. For example : one of our 

 common June beetles was first described in 1844, by Dr. F. E. 

 Melsheimer, under the name rugosa. However, he assigned it to 

 the genus AncyJonycha of Dejean, If it had been left in that genus 

 its name for all time should have been written AncyJonycha rugosa 

 Melsh. However, later writers have found that this species, to- 

 gether with a large number of others, belong to a group whose com- 

 mon characters were first pointed out by Rev. F. W. Hope in 1837. 

 To this group Hope gave the generic name Lach nosterna, so that the 

 name of the beetle described by Melsheimer is now recognized as 

 Lachnosterna rugosa Melsh. The genus, or generic name to which 

 any species is assigned is largely a matter of opinion, but the specific 

 name, if not before used for a member of that genus, is final unless 



