THE BRITISH GEODEPHAGA. 13 



the Longhoms, also, have four eyes. Many of the small Brache- 

 lytra have stemmata, or simple eyes, as well as compound ones. 

 Ho7nalium rivulare may be named as an example, and there are a 

 great many others. 



Again. Some beetles are entirely eyeless, as the Claviger 

 foveolattis (Fig. 3), a small yellow beetle, only one-twelfth of an 

 inch in length, found in the nests of the yellow ant in chalky 

 districts. A popular writer tells us that this beetle also has no 

 mouth ; but this is incorrect, as it has well-formed mouth-organs. 

 The ants appear to be very fond of it, and are continually licking 

 it over on account, I believe, of a fluid which it secretes, and 

 for which the ants have a great liking. Another beetle that 

 is quite blind, is the A?iomniatus duodecim-striatus (Fig. 4), a 

 beetle about one-sixteenth of an inch in length, found in stores 

 of flour and meal. Both of these insects are rather rare. 



The antennae of beetles are of very various forms, and are in 

 a great many cases the basis of classification, as the Lamelltcornia, 

 Clavicornia, Longicornia^ and so on. I must not say anything 

 about them in the present paper, but will only remark that nor- 

 mally the antennae have eleven joints, although to this rule there 

 are exceptions, some having more and others less. 



The beetles now known to inhabit Britain are about 3,250 

 species ; these, in the most modern classifications, are divided into 

 twelve sections, the first of which is the Adephaga, or predaceous 

 beetles — the carnivora, so to speak, of the Coleoptera. This 

 section is divided into two well-marked and distinct sub-sections, 

 namely — the Geodephaga, those which live on the land, and the 

 Hydradephaga, or Water Beetles. Although the mouth, which 

 is the important point in this section, is similar both in the Geode- 

 phaga and in the Hydradephaga, the general form of the beetles 

 is very dissimilar, as will be seen by comparing Figs. 5 and 6, 

 so that there need be no fear of confusion. Those of the 

 one sub-section have a more or less triangular head, square or 

 heart-shaped thorax, and parallel-sided elytra, not deeply inserted 

 one into th^ other, but each part free and distinct ; the legs, also, 

 are long and suited for running on the land. Those of the other 

 sub-section are so formed that they are of a nearly oval figure, 

 without any projections ; in a word, boat-shaped, with legs spe- 



