140 
COLEOPTERA. 
color. They are called oil-beetles in England, on account 
of the yellowish liquid which oozes from their joints in large 
drops Avhen they are handled. Their head is large, heart- 
shaped, and bent down, as in the other blistering beetles. 
Then' thorax is narrowed behind, and very small in pro¬ 
portion to the rest of the body. The latter is egg-shaped, 
pointed behind, and so enormously large that it drags on 
the ground when the beetle attempts to walk. The wings 
are wanting, and of course these insects are unable to fly, 
although they have a pair of very short oval wing-covers, 
which overlap on their inner edges, and do not cover more 
than one third of the abdomen. These beetles eat the leaves 
of various kinds of buttercups. 
Our common species is the Meloe angusticollis of Say, or 
narrow-necked oil-beetle. (Fig. 65 repre¬ 
sents the female, and the antenna of the 
male at her left.) It is of a dark indigo- 
blue color ; the thorax is very narrow, and 
the antennse of the male are curiously 
twisted and knotted in the middle. It 
measures from eio:ht tenths of an inch to 
one inch in length. It is very common 
on buttercups in the autumn, and I have 
also found it eating the leaves of potato- 
vines. 
The forecroino; insects are but a small number of those, 
belonging to the order Coleoptera, which are injurious to 
vegetation. Those only have been selected that are the 
most remarkable for their ravages, or would best serve to 
illustrate the families and genera to which they belong. The 
orders Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, 
and Diptera remain to be treated in the same way, in 
carrying out the plan upon which this treatise has been 
begun, and to which it is limited. 
