. Economic entomology for the farmer and the fruit grower, and for use as a text-book in agricultural schools and colleges;. Entomology; Pests. 172 AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. Fig. Rove-beetle and its larva. the segments distinctly marked at the edges. These beetles have the sense of smell wonderfully developed, and I have frequently covered a small, freshly-killed animal with a box of wood or tin, only to find next morning a number of the insects beneath it. The species are generally nocturnal, and as scavengers are useful, or at least innoxious. The large series of "rove-beetles,"
. Economic entomology for the farmer and the fruit grower, and for use as a text-book in agricultural schools and colleges;. Entomology; Pests. 172 AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. Fig. Rove-beetle and its larva. the segments distinctly marked at the edges. These beetles have the sense of smell wonderfully developed, and I have frequently covered a small, freshly-killed animal with a box of wood or tin, only to find next morning a number of the insects beneath it. The species are generally nocturnal, and as scavengers are useful, or at least innoxious. The large series of "rove-beetles," or Staphylinidce, is pecu- liar in the short wing-covers, which leave more than half the abdomen exposed. The species are always long and comparatively narrow, usually with a large head and well-developed man- dibles, and live in all sorts of fermenting, ^ decaying, or excrementitious animal or vegetable matter. Most of them are small, and many are found beneath bark, in fer- menting sap, or in fungi, while the larger forms are often found in or under animal excrement, or on or under carrion. In short, the species are scavengers, with a tendency to a predatory habit in some cases, and never any disposition to feed upon growing vegetation. They may thus be accounted either actively beneficial or at least not injurious, and as scavengers they aid in reducing organic matter into condition for assimilation by plant-life. The next family meriting attention from its economic interest is the Coccinellidce, or, as the species are commonly termed, "lady-bugs" or "; Scientifically these insects are distinguished by having the tarsi three-jointed only ; but practi- cally they are recognizable by their oval or round form,—always convex, sometimes almost hemispherical, —and by their colors, which are either of some shade of red with black spots and markings, or black, with red or yellow spots. The species are never large, sometimes very small ; but in al
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