THE COLEOrTERA FROM A PRACTICAL POINT OF VIEW. 
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31 
All the leaf-eating beetles have Aliform or nearly Aliform antennae, 
except the herbivorous Lamellicorns (Rutelidce and Melolonthidw.) 
All fungus-eating beetles have the antennae more or less strongly 
clavate. 
The feet of the Coleoptera are of two principal kinds; Arst, simple 
feet, in which the joints are slender, and of about the same width 
throughout, and clothed oidy with somewhat scattered bristles ; and 
secondly bi-lohed feet, in which the joints are somewhat widened amide- 
pressed, with the last joint but one usually a little wider than the others, 
and divided into two lobes, between which the last joint is inserted, and 
all of them clothed beneath with densely crowded short stiff hairs, of 
the same length, so as to resemble a brush ; sometimes also compared 
to a piece of sponge. 
As a general rule, beetles with simple feet reside upon the ground, or 
under the bark of dead trees, or in other decomposing matter, and are 
either carnivorous or rypophagous (filth eating) in their habits; and 
those which have bi-lobed and spongy feet live upon the foliage of trees 
and other plants, this structure of the feet seeming to be especially 
adapted to enabling them to adhere to the surface of leaves ; and ac- 
cordingly most of these insects are herbivorous. 
this general statement is subject to important exceptions. Some 
of the lamellicorn beetles ( Melolonthidw, Rutelidw, etc.j have simple feet 
and yet feed upon the foliage of trees; but these insects do not run 
over the leaves, but simply cling to them with their sharp claws, whilst 
feeding. 
So, also, some carnivorous beetles ( Tclephorida: and CoceinellidccJ, 
which pursue their prey over the foliage of trees, have their feet bi-lobed 
and spongy. 
It is an interesting-circumstance that those insects ('Melolonthidw, otc.j 
which only cling to the foliage by their claws, do not breed upon the 
trees, but pass their larval period under ground, subsisting upon roots 
or other subterranean matters, and only visit the trees for the sake of 
feeding; whereas the true Phytophaga, with spongy feet {Ghrysomdidw 
and their allies) live upon the plants upon which they feed, through all 
the active stages of their existence. 
It is also a curious coincidence that the insects first mentioned, which 
only visit the trees occasionally for the purpose of feeding, do so only 
by night; whilst the genuine Phytophaga (plant eaters) are diurnal in 
their habits. 
There is another partial but important exception to the rule above 
laid down, as respects the males of many carnivorous beetles, which 
have some of the joints of their anterior feet much widened and brushed 
underneath ; but here the last joint but one is not bi-lobed, and the brush 
