CHAPTER XXL 
Order COLEOPTERA (Co-le-op'te-ra). 
The Beetles . 
The members of this order have a pair of horny wing-covers , 
called elytra , which meet in a straight line down the back , and 
beneath which there is a single pair of membranous wings . 
The mouth-parts are formed for biting. The metamorphosis 
is complete . 
Beetles can be readily distinguished from all other in¬ 
sects except earwigs by the possession of horny, veinless 
wing-covers which meet in a straight line down the back 
(Fig. S99); and they differ from ear¬ 
wigs in lacking the pincer - like ap¬ 
pendages at the tail end of the body 
characteristic of those insects (see 
page 103). Beetles also differ from 
earwigs in having a complete meta¬ 
morphosis. 
The name of the order, Coleop- 
tera, is from two Greek words: coleos y 
a sheath; and ptero?i y a wing. It refers to the sheath-like 
structure of the elytra (el' y-tra) or wing-covers, which are 
modified wings. 
The structure of the elytra is so different from that usu¬ 
ally characteristic of wings that F. Meinert was led to be¬ 
lieve that they were not wings, but greatly enlarged paraptera 
of the mesothorax; and unfortunately this view was adopted 
in the earlier editions of this book. 
The reasons in support of Meinert’s view are the follow¬ 
ing : the difference in the structure of elytra from that of 
wings; the fact that in the Lepidoptera the paraptera of the 
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