866 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII, 



Fam. V. Carabidae— Ground Beetles. 



These beetles resemble the Cicmdelidfe but the mandibles 

 are set horizontally instead of vertically. The insects are 

 usually blue or black in colour and are carnivorous in their habits. 

 The clypeus does not extend laterally in front of the antennae (Fig. 

 128) ; the upper joints of the latter are covered with a minute 

 pubescence. 



The Carabidce form one of the largest families of the Coleoptera 



containing over 13,000 described 

 species. The family is of very con- 

 siderable economic importance to 

 man owing to the carnivorous habits 

 of many of its members. In the 

 tropics and semi-tropics the forms 

 are generally winged, but in other 

 parts of the world they are often 

 entirely terrestrial being rarely seen 

 on the wing, many species having 

 merely rudimentary wings. The 

 larvse are usually elongate in form 

 and run freely : they can be recog- 

 nised easily by the fact that their 

 tarsi end in two claws and by 

 their exserted sharp long calliper- 

 like mandibles, and by the body ending in two processes (some- 

 times jointed) and a tube of vary- 

 ing length projecting backwards. 

 Fiff. 129 shows a larva of one of 

 the ground beetles feeding upon 

 a beetle grub. 



The Carabidse are predaceous both as grubs and beetles, and live 

 in various ways. They attack and feed upon living insects, soft 

 grubs and even dead animal matter. The grubs may live in the soil, 

 the beetle on maturing issuing from the soil and either remaining a 

 terrestrial insect, rarely taking to flight, or it may search for its prey 

 ctively on the wing. The grubs of other species live above 



Fig. 128.— The Six-spotted Ground- 

 beetle (Anthia sexgwttata) 

 (India). 



Fig. 129.— Larva of a Ground-beetle. 



