weeks, but in some cases it lasts several years. On aocount of the hardness of the exoskeleton, bee- tles retain their shape well when dried, and hence collections of them are made with more ease than is possible in other departments of entomology, and adult beetles have been studied more than any other order of insects.
Cl.vssificatiox. The enormous numbers of beetles do not adequately impress us, since bee- tles are less on the wing, and hence we see them less than flies, wasps, butterllies, or moths. The form and variation of the external parts are almost wholly used to determine their classifica- tion. The present number of described species is not far from 150,000, of which more than 11,000 species inhabit America north of Jlexico, rejire- senting 8.3 families. The old subordinal di- visions — Clavicornia. Serricornia. etc. — based on the shape of the antenn*. arc no Innpier accepted as scientific, and in their place various subdi- visions have been proposed. A commonly accept- ed classification is the following, based on the tarsi: (1) Cri/ptotetrnmcra — 4 joints in the tarsus, one rudimentary: Coccinelliila; and Endo- mychid:T>. (2) Criiptopenlumcra — .') joints, one being abortive: Chrysonielidse. Ceranibycid!^ (longicorns), Brenthidae, Curculionida", etc. (.3) TIeteromrrn — four front tarsi five-jointed, bind tarsi four-jointed : Meloidie. Rtylopidfp, Tenebrionidiip. etc. (4) Pentnmcra — five-jointed: rtinids, Clerida", Lampyrida;, ElateridiE, Bu- prestidiE (serricorns) , Scaraba'id:p (lamelli- corns), HydrophilidiP, etc., including about half of all known beetles.
Many of these, and other families, will be found described ehsewhere, in their vocabulary places. See also English names of groups or species, as Kove Beetle; Firefly; Bombardier Beetle; Stag Beetle, etc.
Bibliography. For general works, see In- sects. For the most recent and only complete classification of North American Coleoptera, consult : I^ Conte and Horn. A Classification of the Coleoptera of iSorth America, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, 1883) ; Leng and Beutenmiiller pnblislied serially in the Journal of the ew York I^ntomological Society for 1894- 'J7 the early parts of a Handbook of the Coleop- tera of 'Northeastern America; and Canadian beetles are coered by a long series of articles by F. H. Wickham in the Canadian Entomologist (London, Ontario, 1894-9!)). Most of the litera- ture applies to single families, and will be found mentioned underneath the accounts of these given elsewhere.
BEE'TLESTONE'. A hard nodule of clay
ironstone composed of shale. It is found at
•Newhaven, Wales. It is capable of taking a
high polish, and is therefore used by lapidaries
to make ornaments. The name beetlestone is
from a fossil frequently found in the nucleus of
the nodule; the fossil was formerly supposed to
be a beetle, but is now knoTi to be a eoprylite.
BEET'LING ( beetle, a heavy wooden mallet,
from the root beat). A mechanical finishing
process applied originally to linen shirting, and
afterwards to cotton shirting, in imitation of
linen, to give the cloth a liard and wiry look, by
fiattening the j'arn irregularly in an angled man-
ner. This is done by upright wooden stamps,
placed close together in a row, w-ith their square
butts resting on a roller over which the cloth
passes, doubled in a particular waj', so that the
yarn, when struck, acquires an angled appear-
ance. Linen weft j'arn for sail-cloth is likewise
beetled by such a machine, or by hand-hammer-
ing on a large flat stone with a w'Ooden mallet,
to soften the yarn for easiness of working it in
weaving. The yarn is also passed between longi-
tudinally grooved rollers for the same ]nirpose.
Beetling is likewise a process in llax-dressing,
to separate the woody from the flexible fibres of
the plant. See Linen.
BEET'-PULP'. A term applied to the mass of
sliced sugar-beet remaining after the extraction
of the sugar. It is a voluminous by-i)roduct
of beet-sugar factories, and with the growth
of the beet-sugar industry the means of utiliz-
ing it have received considerable attention.
Beet-pulp is fed quite extensively to cattle and
sheep, and in Europe has been successfully fed
tc milch cows. Large feeding-sheds are erected
near the factories in some ])arts of the Ihiited
States, several thousand head of steers and sheep
being fed ujion the beet-pulp, supplemented by
hay and a little grain. The pulp contains about
90 per cent, of water, and in the wet condition
must be fed at once or preserved in silos, which
may be very crude. It would not pay for haul-
ing any distance. In Europe it is dried at some
factories, 'and then keeps well. See Sugar.
BEET'-BOOT' SU'GAR. See Sugar.
BEETS, Iiats, XiK0L.4.AS (1814-1904). A Dutch poet ami author, born at Haarlem. He became professor of theology at the University of Utrecht, but is principally known by his contri- butions to belles-lettres. His Camera Obscura (1839), which he published under the pseudo- nym of Hildebrand, has been called the finest piece of prose in the Dutch literature of the last century. It has been translated into several modern languages. His poetry, though inferior to his prose, enjoyed also great popularity. Among his poetic tales may be mentioned (lui/ de yiaming (1853) and Ada ran Holland (1840). His lyrie songs include Korenbloemen (1853); Xieuwe gedichten (1857); and Ver- strooide gedirhten (1862). His poetry was published in four volumes (1873-81). He was also the author of some critical essays and several works on theology, among them Stichtelijke uren (184S-()0).
BEETZ, bats, Wilhelm von (1822-8G). A
German physicist, born at Berlin. He was at
first professor of physics at the artillery school
there. In 1856 he was appointed professor of
physics at the University of Bern, and in 1S59 at
the University of Frlangen. He was called to
the chair of physics at tlic Munich Polytechni-
kuni in 18C8. He made researches in regard to
the electrical conductivity of liquids, galvanic
polarization, and other problems; contributed
extensively to Poggendorff's Annalen, and pub-
lished Leitfaden der Pliysik (2d ed., 1857; 10th
ed.. 1890) and Grundziige der Electricitiiislehre
(1878)'.
BEE'VILLE. A town and county-seat of Bee County, Tex., 90 miles southeast of San Antonio ; on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass and the Texas and Pacific railroads (Map:
Texas, F 5). It has a mild and equable climate, is in a region adapted to fruit and vegetable growing, and exports live stock, cotton, etc. Population, about 3000.
