16 THE BRITISH GEODEPHAGA. 



give it quite a different character to the Geodephaga. The mandi- 

 bles (//) are worth looking at, to notice the processes on the 

 inside of each, some distance below the tip. These, it will be 

 observed, are not alike on each mandible, but a projection in one 

 works into a hollow in the other, acting in effect like molar teeth, 

 so that with the points of the mandibles as they pass each other, 

 acting like canine teeth, the insect has very much the advantages 

 which the higher animals have from a complete set of teeth. 

 Another feature is the brushes attached to the root of the mandi- 

 bles on the inside. This we do not meet with in the Geodephaga. 

 Perhaps owing to the mouth being wider and not so much enclosed 

 as the Geodephaga^ these brushes are needed to help sweep the 

 food into the centre, and prevent it slipping away. 



The British Geodephaga consist of 312 species, divided, 

 according to Herbert Cox's Handbook, into 61 genera. I men- 

 tion and give prominence to this book, because, before it was 

 pubHshed, we had no means of finding the names of beetles 

 except by consulting and comparing the works of foreign authors, 

 books which are quite unattainable to most of us, and require, 

 when obtained, a knowledge of at least six languages to read them. 

 It is true, there are " Stephens' Entomology " and his " Manual " ; 

 also Curtis's great work. But these for determining species are so 

 full of error, and so many species have been discovered since their 

 publication, that they are nearly useless. 



It will be seen by the chart of the classification of the 

 British Geodephaga given on the opposite page, that the 

 Geodephaga is divided into two families — the Cicindelidce and 

 the Carabidce. The first, or Tiger Beetles, is represented in this 

 country by only one genus, Cidndela, of which there are four 

 species. They are very beautiful and most interesting, and have 

 a well-marked distinctive character, namely — the hooked top to the 

 blade of the maxillae, which is rigid in all the rest of the Geode- 

 phaga, whilst in this family it is moveable. The mandibles, too, 

 are very remarkable. The drawings (Figs. 13 and 14, and 15) will 

 explain their peculiarities better than any written description, and 

 I think will prove that any insect would have but a poor chance 

 of escape when once between such jaws, particularly as these 

 beedes are very active, running and flying with great rapidity. 



