50 



THE ORDER OF COLEOPTERA. 



[Fig. 15.] 



Tribe n. 



PEEDACEOUS WATEE- BEETLES. 

 Carniiiora aquatica, Hydradephaga,* MacLeay. 



These insects are distinguished from those of the fii\st tribe by their 

 feet being fitted for swimming, the two hinder pairs being much flat- 

 tened and margined with long hairs or cilise. 



This tribe contains two families. 

 A. Antennae slender, filiform ; hind legs long, and attachecT fo the 



breast far behind the other two pairs Dytiscid^. 



A A. Antennfe very short and i>eculiar; the three pairs of legs attached 

 at nearly equal distances from each other; middle and hind 

 legs very short G yrinidje. 



Family III. DYTISCID^. 



This family is founded upon the genus Bytiscus, of Linnaeus, derived 

 from a Greek word meaning a diver, and given to these insects on ac- 

 count of their eminently 

 aquatic habits. They are of 

 an oval and somewhat flat- 

 tened form, and of a brown- 

 ish - bl.ick color, generally 

 with a dull glaucous or sea- 

 green tint. Ih some species 

 the thorax is dull yellow, 

 either with or without black 

 cross-bars. One of their 

 most distinctive and easily 

 recognized characters is the 

 position of the middle legs 

 close to the anterior ones, 

 leaving an unusually long 

 ^ space between the middle 



DvTisci 8 : — a. larva of J), margivalis devouring a larva ot 



Ephemera- after Rdsel : t, piipa of same— after Kye: e, X). and tllC hind ISgS. ThCSO 

 fdscivcntrii. Say, the detached figure ou the rifjht sbowiiig _ _ ^ 



"the iiroovod elytron of the female; (I, the anterior taraiis of inseCtS ai'C eminently a«JUa- 

 the male, under Hide, showing the suction cups; e, same of 



f«-uiaie— after Kiiey. tic and predaccous, and may 



be supposed to rei)resent the sharks and other ferocious aquatic ani- 

 mals of the higher classes. 



They have sometimes been found very troublesome in artificial fish- 

 ponds, attacking the young gold and silver fishes and eating oil" their 



^-^v. 



* From the Greek hudor — water ; and adephagos — ravenous. 



