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The wing-cases of beetles at their return from flight are joined together like the shells of a mussel on the inside as well as to the wedge-shaped plate (Fig. 170, schi) between their bases. There is even a kind of clasp at hand for this purpose. The base of the wing, that is, bears a pair of tooth-like projections (za), which fit into the corresponding hollows of the little plate.

The commissure arising from the joining of the inner edges is characteristic. Usually the wings on both sides interlock by means of a groove, as in stag-beetles, but sometimes even, as in Chlamys, after the manner of two cog-wheels, so that we have here also an imitation of the two most prevalent methods which the cabinet-maker uses in joining boards together.

The act of folding the broad hind wings among beetles is not less significant than the arrangement of the fore wing. If we forcibly spread out the former in a beetle which has just been killed and then leave it to its own resources again, we observe the following result: According to its peculiar mode of joining, the costal vein on the fore edge approaches the mid or discoidal vein of the basal half as well as the distal half of the wing, whence arises a longitudinal fold which curves in underneath. Then the distal half snaps under like the blade of a pocket knife and lies on the plane of the costal edge of the wing, while it also draws after it the neighboring wing-area. The soft hinder-edge portion turns in simultaneously when this wing-area remains fixed to the body while the costal portion is moving towards the middle line of the body.