LIBRARY

COLEOPTERA 519
have been adored and worshipped throughout the ages in Egypt and in earlier
civilizations. The ladybird beetles have been admired and protected throughout
most of Europe since earliest days. More naturalists have enthused about
beetles than over all other insects, and the history of coleopterology is so extensive
as to be almost a history of entomology. No one can view a neatly prepared
collection of beetles and weevils without becoming interested in them.
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FIG. 174. The cornman black calosoma, Ca/osoma semilll!.ve LeConte. Adult with left elytron
and wing spread and principal parts named. (From Insecls of Western North America.)
Not only are they among the most beautiful but they are the most enduring
and permanent specimens of life procurable.
The larvre are as variable in form and habits as the adults and live under
similar conditions. They are either generally caraboid and active, living freely
and exposed; scarabreoid-fleshy, curved, sluggish, with well-developed legs
and living in seclusion and darkness; cerambycoid: fleshy, subcylinddcal,
straight, and apodous or nearly so; and curculionoid: fleshy, subcylindrical,
curved, and apodous. While they usually have three pairs of well-developed
legs, many forms, including particularly the weevils, are apodous. Certain
species like the blister beetles and seed weevils are active forms when first born
and become eruciforro after finding and developfug in the permanent host.