BEETLES. 263

roots of vegetables, or decomposed animal matter: it is in
this stage of their existence that many of the species prove
so injurious to farmers and gardeners from their numbers
and voracity. When about to change into the pupa state,
they make an egg-shaped cocoon, from fragments of wood,
etc., united by a glutinous fluid, which exudes from their
bodies.

Though many tribes of beetles are enemies to vegetation,
yet many more prove most serviceable to man in various
ways. Such are the Tiger Beetles (Cicindelida), the Ground
Beetles (Carabidaz), the Ladybirds (Coccinellida), and others
which prey upon caterpillars, aphides, etc.; others, too nu-
merous to mention, act the part of scavengers, removing
carrion and other offensive refuse; many, also, clear the
earth of the poisonous fungi which in a state of decay are
so injurious and disagreeable to man; the properties and
uses of the Blistering Beetles (Cantharida) are-very well
known.

In the expression made use of in Exodus viii., “I will
send swarms of flies upon thee,” great latitude is given to
conjecture, as the word “flies” is not mentioned in the
original, either in the 21st or in the succeeding verses.
“The Hebrew word is arob, which implies a mixture; the