( 93 ) 



CHAPTER Vir 



Fig. 57. — Cicindela 

 sexpitnctata. 



ADEPHAGA. 



Tarsus of all legs five-jointed. Joints of antennae simple. Larva with 

 two-jointed tarsi. 



Family CICINDELIDAE. 



(Tiger Beetles.) 



This is a family of predaceous beetles provided with 

 powerful curved mandibles and long 

 Beetle. legs adapted for rapid running move- 



ments. The tiger beetles are easily 

 recognizable from their general shape and the fact that 

 the clypeus stretches laterally in front of the insertion 

 of the antennae, whilst the maxillae end in an articulated 

 joint. The insects are often brilliantly coloured, either 

 uniformly throughout or wath bands and spots on them — 

 greens, blues, browns, or blacks predominating, with 

 white, yellow, red, or other coloured spots. The elytra are broader at 

 the base than the prothorax, having shoulders to them, and are smooth. 

 The beetles are never very large, half an inch to a little over an inch usually. 

 Some forms are wingless. 



The larva is a curious whitish elongate grub, with a largely developed 

 head armed with stout curved mandibles, an enlarged 

 prothoracic segment, the remaining segments and those 

 of the abdomen being of much less width. The seventh 

 from the head is furnished dorsally with a curious 



^^/^ projecting hump. There are three pairs of legs on 

 /^ the thoracic segments. 

 -'®- •• The members of the family as a whole feed upon 



insects of all kinds, and many are diurnal, flying or 

 running rapidly about in the sunlight. 



The importance of the tiger beetles in the forests 

 has yet to be definitely decided. Blue forms of the 

 genus Collyris are often to be found on the bark of 

 trees, and not improbably may be found to prey 

 upon wood- and bark-boring beetles. This point has 

 yet to be established, as also where the larvae of 

 the forest-living forms dwell. 



„,...,; , The larvae of the members of the flimily which 



Fig. 58. — LicitiaeLa octo- - . 



notata, Wied. Assam, live in the open country usually construct vertical 



Larva. 



sesfment counting 



