^66 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



The characteristic form of these beetles is neat and even graceful. As a rule 

 they are black, or of some dark, inconspicuous tint that harmonizes with the 

 surface when they are above-ground ; but often their wing-covers are grooved, 

 pitted, or shot with metallic lustre. In the genus ^ which gives its name to the family 

 the fore-body and the wing-covers have a flattened margin, which is coloured 

 golden-green or violet. The head, which is kept extended in front of the fore-body, 

 is furnished with a pair of large, sharp-pointed mandibles, which will be found 

 equallv well developed in the active grub, which has predaceous habits similar to 

 those of the mature beetle. 



Some of the greatest pests to the market-gardener are those caterpillars of 



moths that feed onh^ at night. Their \\'ork is 

 plainly to be seen in the morning in the shape of 

 leaves riddled or skeletonized, but a daylight 

 search affords no clue to the identity of the dcs- 

 tro3'er. At the dawn of day he has retired into 

 the earth or under the clods, with which his dirty- 

 brown colour harmonizes. Here the ground- 

 beetle or its grub mav come across him ; then the 

 sharp mandibles will be brought into use, and the 

 gardener will have one enemy the less. Of course, 

 when he is digging and comes across ground-beetles 

 or their grubs, he does not discriminate in their 

 favour. He knows nothing of their habits, and 

 regards their presence in the soil as evidence of 

 evil intentions towards his crops. So wdre-worm 

 and ground-beetle-- eneniv and friend — share the 

 same fate. Some of them abroad have been found 

 to do good service bv killing and eating locusts 

 in their early stages. Othejs make a speciality of 

 destroying slugs and snails, and in order that they 

 may pursue the latter when thev withdraw them- 

 selves well into their shells, the beetles have had 

 their structure modified, the fore-body being 

 narrowed and the head made long and slender 

 to enable the ja\\s to reach the snail. One such - 

 is fairly common in this country, among moss and 

 dead leaves and under stones, in the places where snails are numerous (see page 2()S). 

 The beetles of this family that are best known to the public are the little 

 sunshiners,"^ under which name several distinct species are popularly confused. 

 If they are not familiar to the adult members of the population — who may have 

 forgotten them — they are quite well known to the children, among whom survives 

 a superstition that if one of these golden-glossed beetles be killed rain will inevitablv 

 fah. As the children are advocates for perennial sunshine the active little beetle 

 is always allowed to go free. These beetles appear to differ from the great majority 

 of the family in being at least partially addicted to a vegetable diet. 



1 Carabus. - Cvchnis rostratiis. ^ .\niara 



Plwto by] \H. Bastin. 



Violet Ground-Beetle. 



.\ common garden beetle that renders good service 

 by the destruction of root-feeding grubs. It 

 is photographed as usually seen when it comes 

 above-ground. Its black colouring gives ^■iol(■t 

 reflections, and it is margined with a line of golden- 

 violet. Its actual length is about an inch. 



