64 LARVA Of CICLNUELA. 



country are beautifully green with yellowish spots, and if, during their 

 flight, the sun shines upon them, they present a dazzling appearance. 

 They also run very rapidly on the ground, and are not easily taken with 

 the hand. Linne designated them as tiger beetles, because they are ex- 

 ceedingly voracious and devour multitudes of other smaller insects. — ■ 

 This insect is interesting to entomologists from the fact that it was one 

 of the first captures of Linne. During his tour to Lapland, before he 

 studied insects, he was struck with the appearance of the Cicindela in 

 the pine forests of Lycksele and captured some specimens. Althougli 

 it is a very common insect, yet these original captures of the illustrious 

 Swede were found in his cabinet after his death, and purchased by the 

 Linnaean Society of London, when hundreds of the same species might 

 have been taken in a few hours in the neighborhood of that city. But 

 these belonged to Linne, and were caught by him, and that gives them 

 an extraordinary value. 



But it is of the larva (or caterpillar) of the insect that I am now to 

 speak. Jt is about an inch long — composed of twelve transverse seg- 

 ments, besides the head and anal segment. The head and first segment 

 ■which are wider than the rest, are black, hard, and crustaceous. Tiie 

 mandibles or jaws, are sharp, horny, long and bent upward. The eighth 

 segment is much thicker and wider than the others, excepting the first. 

 Jt has two fleshy tubercles above covered with rough and tliick hairs, 

 except a small circular spot in the middle. Each of these tubercles is 

 furnished with a spine or horny hook, crooked and sharp, of which the 

 point is directed outward and toward the heads. The larva can elevate 

 or depress the tubercle and hook in an instant. It is not necessary to 

 specify the animal more distinctly. What are its habits ? Jt excavates 

 this deep hole in the loose sand, and then crawls to the top, lianging to 

 the walls by its hooks. But it does not come altogether out; it just 

 peeps out, as it were, the orilicc exactly fitting the size of the head, and 

 there it hangs, with its enormous jaws distended, and woe to any ant, 

 spider or odier insect not too large, that dares to venture too near. It 

 seizes them ferociously, draws them down to the bottom, sucks their 

 juices, carries up the remains to the surface and throws them away. It 

 is a regular robber in ambush, pouncing on jiis unsuspecting prey. It is 

 equally voracious with the ant lion, equally ugly, and equally ingenious. 

 The ant lion digs a funnel-shaped hole and watches at the bottom, but 

 ' our larva bores a cylindrical one, and lies in wait at the top with noth- 

 ing but his ugly head visible. 



In its legs and other parts of its body it has a mattock, spade, wheel- 

 barrow and every other instrument necessary for excavating the earth. 



