﻿140 BRITISH BKETLES. 



ridee); the prothorax strongly transverse, and the claws 

 of the tarsi toothed beneath. 



Our solitary representative, Drilus flavescens (Plate 

 IX, Fig, 3), is found at Dover, near Darenth Wood, etc., 

 by sweeping in grassy places, especially where snails 

 abound. The female, as in Lampyris, possesses neither 

 wings nor elytra, and is of the greatest rarity in Eng- 

 land. 



The larva feeds upon snails [Helix nemoralis), closing 

 up the orifice of the shell with its exuvise whilst preying 

 upon its inhabitant. I once took at the base of Shake- 

 speare's Cliff a full-grown female larva, running rapidly 

 in the hot sunshine among snail shells. It was more 

 than half an inch long ; flat, narrow, but rather widening 

 behind ; with a flat head, armed with two sharp and 

 rather widely separated mandibles, six moderately long 

 anterior legs, two thin tubercles on each side of the 

 fourth and following segments, gradually getting longer, 

 and clothed with stout brown bristles ; and two longer 

 elevated protuberances, also set with long hairs on the 

 upper side, with an anal elongation beneath, on the last 

 segment. It was nearly the colour of raw sienna; and 

 had a widening row of black spots on each side, begin- 

 ing on the thorax. The fig-ure given in Westwood's 

 Introduction (vol. i. p. 247, f. 26, 18) is not correct; 

 being too broad and not hairy enough . 



The female preserves the appearance of the larvae to 

 a great extent. 



The TelephoriD/E (commonly known as " soldiers " 

 or "sailors") have the head free and contracted behind; 

 the clypeus more or less covering the mandibles; the 

 labrum obsolete, instead of distinct, as in the preceding 

 families; the antennae filiform; the elytra not reflected 



