


ID 
COLEOPTERA. 
In collections of insects, the Coleoptera almost always occupy 
the principal place. They are sought after by collectors on 
account of the brightness of their colours, of the solidity of 
their integuments, and the facility with which they can be pre- 
served. This circumstance has contributed much to give to the 
Coleopterous Order marked preponderance in the immense series 
of insects. Many more have been collected than any one has 
as yet been enabled to describe; and the collections are encum- 
bered with species of which no naturalist has yet given an 
account. 
Admitting that the first-rate collections contain each about 
twenty-five thousand perfectly distinct species, and that a certain 
fraction of these treasures is peculiar to each collection, M. Blan- 
chard came to the conclusion that we must estimate the number 
at more than a hundred thousand of the species of Coleoptera 
which would be obtained if the different entomological collections 
of France, England, and Germany were put together. But every 
day we see arriving from different regions of the globe new 
riches, hardly dreamt of up to that time; and it is not only 
the small species, but the larger and more beautiful also, 
which furnish their contingent. It may, then, be believed that, 
if the entire surface of the earth were carefully explored, we 
should obtain an incalculable number of Coleoptera, having 
sufficient characteristics to constitute distinct species or kinds. 
The Coleoptera (from xodedc, a sheath, and zrepdv, a wing) are 
insects with four wings. The anterior wings, or e/ytra, are not used 

