THE BEETLE AND ITS ALLIES 



45 



pupa, and emerges in about ten days as an imago. From 

 two to four broods are produced during the year. The 

 adult beetles hibernate in the ground, emerging and laying 

 eggs the following spring. 



The larval habits of the different kinds of beetles are 

 extremely varied, quite as varied as the habits of the adult. 

 The details of these differences may be best considered 

 when we take up the different kinds of beetles. 



The number of species of beetles which have been de- 

 scribed is very great, probably over one hundred thousand. 

 Of these, over ten thousand inhabit America, north of 

 Mexico. Fortunately this vast number can be included 

 within a relatively small number of families. Leaving 

 the precise definition of 

 these families to the 

 table in the Appendix, 

 we mav here consider 



/ 



certain of the salient 

 general characteristics. 



The running beetles 

 include two principal 

 families. The first of 

 these is the tiger-beetles 

 (Cicindelidse : ), which 



are colored bright brown or green. They frequent sunny 

 places, especially paths or sandy shores, and are extremely 

 agile. 2 The larva' are hunch-backed creatures, have a huge 

 head armed with long jaws, and live in burrows, at the 

 entrances to which they lie in wait for their prey. 



The second family of the running beetles includes the 

 ground-beetles (Carabidae 3 in narrow sense). This family 



1 Derived from candda, caudle. 2 Fig. 42. 3 Kapafios, beetle. 



FIG. 42. Three common species of Cicin- 

 dela, the tiger-beetle. Left, red-copper 

 bronze; middle, brown, with yellow mark- 

 ings; right, bright green, cream-colored 

 markings. From Packard. 



