BRITISH BEETLES. 
( COLEOPTERA .) 
CHAPTER I. 
ON TIIE RELATIONS AND DIVISIONS OF THE CLASS 
INSECTA. 
As this volume is intended solely for the use of 
beginners in Entomology, and especially those who 
desire to be acquainted with the leading groups and 
peculiarities of structure, &c., of Beetles (or Coleop- 
tera), as exhibited by our British species, it is perhaps 
advisable to commence with a brief statement of the 
relative position in the scale of creation held by the 
class Insecta, in which either the Hymenoptera or the 
Coleoptera are usually accorded the place of honour. 
The Animal Kingdom is divided into two great 
divisions or sub-kingdoms: the Vertebrata, or 
animals with a spinal column (comprising Mammalia, 
Aves , Reptilia, and Pisces, or Beasts, Birds, Reptiles, 
and Pishes, a fifth class, Amphibia, containing the 
frogs and toads, newts, &c., being by many authors 
separated from the Reptilia), and the Invertebrata, in 
which the spinal column is wanting : these divisions 
B 
