. Elementary text-book of zoology, tr. and ed. by Adam Sedgwick, with the assistance of F. G. Heathcote. COLEOPTERA. 587 the abdomen there are usually a series of separate ganglia (2 to 7). The latter may, however, fuse together to form a long mass or be drawn into the thoracic ganglia. The long coiled alimentary canal dilates in the carnivorous beetles to form a gizzard, which is followed by a shaggy chylific ventricle. The number of Malpighian tubes is, as in Lepidoptera, confined to four or six. The males and females are easily distinguished by the form and size of the antennae, the structu
. Elementary text-book of zoology, tr. and ed. by Adam Sedgwick, with the assistance of F. G. Heathcote. COLEOPTERA. 587 the abdomen there are usually a series of separate ganglia (2 to 7). The latter may, however, fuse together to form a long mass or be drawn into the thoracic ganglia. The long coiled alimentary canal dilates in the carnivorous beetles to form a gizzard, which is followed by a shaggy chylific ventricle. The number of Malpighian tubes is, as in Lepidoptera, confined to four or six. The males and females are easily distinguished by the form and size of the antennae, the structure of the tarsal joints, and by special relations of size, form and colour. In the female the numerous egg- tubes unite in very various arrangements, and a bursa copulatrix is often present. The males possess a large horny penis, which, when at rest, is retracted into the abdomen and is protruded by means of a powerful muscular apparatus. Almost all the larva? have mouth parts adapted for biting, rarely suctorial pincers. They feed under the most different conditions, as a rule concealed and removed from the light, and usually in the same way as the perfect insect. They are either grub-like and apodal, but with a distinctly developed head (Curculionidce), or they possess, in addition to the three pairs of legs on the thorax, also stumps on the last abdominal segments. Many larva?, as those of the Cicindelce, have a peculiar apparatus for capturing their prey , FIG. -is.,.—,7, Melue nola- (fig. 484). In place of the facetted eyes, which «i!«. b, s;iari* humeraii* have not yet appeared, ocelli are present in varying number and position. Some beetle larvae, like the larvae of the Dlptera and Hymenoptera, live as parasites and feed inside bees nests on the eggs and honey (Jfeloe, Sitaris) (fig. 485). The pupte of beetles, which are either suspended and attached to objects or lie on the earth or in holes, have their limbs freely projecting. Fossil Coleoptera are found in coal fo
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