COLEOPTERA. 
7 
GENUS 9.— CASSIDA. 
The larvae of the caflidas eat the under fide of the 
leaves of plants, and often, as it were, hide themfelves 
under a cover of their own excrement, fupported in 
the air above their bodies, by means of their forked 
tail. 
Barbut fays, this genus Is called caffida, or helmet 
beetle, becaufe it conceals its head under the margin 
of its thorax, in form of a helmet. Foreign countries 
afford many fine fpecies of them. Thofe we meet 
with inthefe parts have that fmgular habit; the larva, 
by the help of the two prongs at its hinder extremi¬ 
ty, makes itfelf, with its excrement, a kind of um¬ 
brella, that fhelters it from the fun and rain : when 
this umbrella grows over dry, it parts with it for a 
new one. 
Thiftles and verticiliated plants are inhabited by 
thefe infefts. There is one fpecies of which, the 
chryfalis, refembles an armorial efcutcheon: it is 
that which produces'our variegated caflida; numbers 
of them are found on the fides of ponds on the wild 
elecampane. 
Cassidi Viridis » 
This looks like a little tortoife. . 
GENUS 10.—COCCINELLA. 
The larvae of the Coccinellse devour the aphides, 
and 
