Coleoptera

(ko-le-õp'te-rah.) [From Gr. kol eos, sheath, andpteron, wing.] (Zool.) The Beetles, a sub-O. of insects, whose anterior or upper wings are represented by ap air of horny cases, called elytra, meeting in a straight line upon the top of the back, and often having a small triangular or semicircular piece, called the scutellum, wedged between their bases (Fig. 196). The posterior or underwings are thin, membranous, and,when at rest, longitudinally and transversely folded. Beetles are provided with two pairs of lateral-moving jaws, and they undergo a complete metamorphosis. They i ue from 1 3 Fig. 196.- THE GREAT CAPRICORN, (fam. Cerambycide.) the egg in the shape of a grub (3), which in many species is very destructive to plants and wood. In time they a ume the pupa form (2), and then emerge as perfect beetles. The forms of beetles are very varied; some are so minute as to require the a istance of a microscope in making out the parts, while others attain the size of four inches. The majority are plain in color, but some are very brilliant. The Scarabæus, an object of reverence among the ancient Egyptians, the lady-bird of children, the cockchafer, the May-worm, the blistering cantharides, the weevils (so destructive to grain), the turnip-fly, and the perfect animals of the nut-maggot and the glow-worm, all belong to this sub-order. [s. 204]