COLLOPTERA. 



493 



pieces, fitted for trituration ; and that the existence of a complicated apparatus for an excrementitial 

 secretion, possessing ammoniacal qualities, is one of the inoit striking features of the Carahi.] 



They are divided into two trihes. 



The first, that of the Cicmdeletm, Latr., comprises the genus 



Cicindela, Linn., — 



Which have the tip of the maxillae furnished with a corneous, slender hook, articulated at its hase with 

 these under jaws. The head is rohust, with great eyes, jaws very advanced and toothed, and a very 

 short tonguelet hidden hehind the mentura. The labial palpi are distinctly composed of four joint- ; 

 they are commonly hirsute, as well as the maxillary palpi. The majority of the species are 

 exotic. 



Some species have a tooth in the middle of the notch of the mentum, with the lahial palpi wide apart at the 

 base. 



Manticoru, Fab., has the tarsi alike in both sexes, with cylindrical joints. Manticora maxillosa, Fab. [and M. la- 

 tipennis, Waterh.] from Caffraria. M. pallida, Fab., forming M'Leay's genus Platychile, [figured in Klug't 

 Jahrbucher). 



Those species which have the three basal joints of the anterior tarsi dilated in the males, with the body oblong 

 or oval, and the thorax nearly square, compose the genera Megacephala, Latr., (with a transverse short upper lip) ; 

 Oxycheila, l)ej. (with a large triangular upper lip) ; Euprosopus, Latr., and Cicindela proper, which has the labial 

 palpi not longer than the maxillary, the third joint of the former not manifestly thicker than the following joint, 

 and the three dilated basal joints of the anterior male tarsi elongated. 



The body of the last-named insects is generally of a darker or lighter green colour, varied with shining metallic 

 tints, and with white spots upon the elytra ; they frequent dry situations exposed to the sun, run very quickly, 

 fly olT when they are approached, and alight at a short distance ; if again disturbed, they have recourse to the 

 same means of defence. 



The larvae of two indigenous species, the onlv ones yet observed, burrow in the earth, forming a cylindrical hole 

 of considerable depth, using their jaws and feet in its construction, and loading the concave back of their heads 

 with the grains of earth which they have detached, with which they ascend backwards, resting at intervals, 

 fixing themselves to the inner walls of their burrow by the assistance of the two hooked tubercles upon the back ; 

 when arrived at the orifice, they jerk off their load to a distance. Whilst lying in ambush the flat plate of the head 

 exactly stops the mouth of the hole, forming a flat surface with the surrounding soil. They seize their prey with 

 their jaws, and even rush upon it, precipitating it to the bottorr of their burrows, with a see-saw motion of the 

 head. They likewise descend them with equal quickness at the least danger. If they find them too narrow, or the 



nature of the earth is not favourable to them, they make a new burrow. Their 

 voracity is even extended to other larva-, even of their own kind, stationed in the 

 same situations. They close the orifice of their burrow when they change their 

 skin, or undergo their change to the pupa state. These observations have in part 

 been communicated to me by at. Miger, who has greatly studied the larva; of 

 Coleoptera. 



Cicindela campeslris, Lin., is half an inch long, of an obscure green above, with 

 the upper lip white, and with a slight tooth in the middle ; each of the elytra « ith 

 five small white dots. Very common throughout Europe, especially in the spring, 

 Cicindela germanica, Lin. [the smallest British species], and some others, are 

 of a narrower form ; they fly less than the foregoing. All these species are winged, 

 but other exotic species are apterous, (brming Dejean's genus Dromiea. 

 Clenottoma, King, has the body long and narrow, the thorax long and knot'. I, 

 Fi|f. 52.— CiciiKicU c»mpe»trli, and and the third joint of the male tarsi is produced on the msule into a plate. The 



species are from tropical America. 

 Tlieratex, Latr. {Kun/rfiile, nonelli); Culliuris, Latr. (Colti/ris, Fab.); and Trim,,,/,//,,, Latr., are three genera 

 which have no tooth in the middle of the notch of the mentum, and the labial palpi are contiguous al the base. 

 Therateshasthe form of Cicindela proper, but In the two other- the body is long and narrow, and the thorax knotted. 

 All the species of these three groups are peculiar to the Last Indies and the islands of the adjacent Archipelago. 



[The investigation of the family Cicindelide*, corresponding with the Liimaan genua Cicindela, or 

 Cicindeletse of Latreille, ha- been greatly pursued by modern continental author-, who have described 

 a great many new species, chiefly exotic and have added several new genera. Dejean's Sj "ml, 



Vander Linden'- Memoir on the Tntecti qfJava, Laporte de Castelnan, in various memoirs, Gory, >.n, 



King, Gui'rin, Gistl, &C, have particularly studied this family; and in our own country Ml.cav, Kirhy, 

 and Hope, in the '2nd part of The Coleopteritfi Manual, have described m, my oevi species.] 



• [Bngllib anthora bare generally adopted the plnn first Brupoaed I trellle, and (or which they retain the uM 1 «an generic name, but 



In Mr Klrby, In hia rating lac lilnneaan gcoere Into I erlth an nal/orn unmnaiiuu iJ*.) 



uatui i orreapontiliuj 1th Ote " famlllei natareUee 1 ' *// Ia- I 



