COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 109 
cave surface to the air, and maintaining the body in 
a proper equilibrium. 
The aerial movements of these insects are not, 
however, in general performed with that power and 
ease of evolution which are so remarkable in birds, 
and even in certain other tribes of their own class. 
In the larger kinds especially, the weight of the 
body seems somewhat disproportionate to the size 
and motive apparatus of the wings, and their flight 
is therefore heavy and laborious, and seldom sus- 
tained for any considerable time. They rise into the 
air but slowly, and although their motion soon be- 
comes rather rapid and headlong, the frequency with 
which they strike against any object that happens 
to come within the line of their flight, shows them 
to be incapable of exerting that degree of muscular 
energy necessary to check suddenly the impulse 
they have received, or speedily change its direction. 
It is probably owing to this cause that they are so 
often seen to come in contact w r ith other objects, 
rather than deficiency of sight, to which it is ascribed 
in the saying, “ blind as a beetle.” Olivier asserts 
that no coleopterous insect can fly against the wind, 
and it is probable that the affirmation is correct, at 
least in relation to the majority, and when the wind 
is so high as to offer much resistance. Many of the 
smaller beetles, however, and those whose habits 
render a sustained flight necessary (such as the tree- 
chafers, Melolonthce , &c.), possess considerable power 
of wing. During a warm day in spring the air is 
