368 Marvels of Insect Life. 



Among these ground-beetles are a number of cave-dwellers ^ found in the 

 great caverns of Europe and North America. These, having no occasion for sight, 

 are blind, and some of them have lost not only their eyes but the optic nerves as 

 well. But the loss of sight appears to be compensated by a liner develoy)ment 

 of the sense of touch, for they are fully as active as those that have sight. Other 

 blind beetles of this family are found living under deeply imbedded stones, and 

 have never been found above-ground. We have a native genus- whose members 

 live under stones and in deep crevices, and some of these show great diminution 

 in the size of the eyes. Two other of our native species ^ live under stones on the 

 seashore, between tide-marks. As the tide comes in they do not trouble to run 

 up the shore out of its reach; they merely retire under stones and allow the water 

 to cover them. This behaviour is made possible to them by the possession of a 

 couple of air-sacs within the hind-body which hold a sufficient amount of air to 

 sustain their respiration until the tide goes out again and sets them free to prey 



Photo by] [P. H. Fabie. 



The Golden Ground-Beetle. 



This beetle is common in France — where it is linovvn as tlje gardener — whence it often makes its way to English markets in crates of 

 vegetables. Like the others of its family, it is voracious, and destroys large numbers of noxious Insects in fields and gardens. Other 

 inhabitants of the soil .ilso fall victims to it, as in this case, where a party of " gardeners" have set upon a large earthworm and are 

 tearing it to pieces. 



upon certain little sea-snails thcv find among the seaweeds that have been washed 

 ashore. 



One of the finest of the members of this family is a beetle which, borrowing 

 from its scientific name,* we may call the beautiful searcher. It is rare in this 

 country, but is found in the New Forest and a few other localities. It is broad 

 in proportion to its length, and of a beautiful dark bronzy-green or violet-black ; 

 the wing-covers each bearing three rows of minute pits, and having the remainder 

 of the surface delicately grooved in two directions. Owing to its rarity here we 

 cannot claim for it that it is a very valuable member of the British fauna ; but 

 on the Continent an allied species is more abundant, and its activity in the interest 

 of the timber-grower is so patent to all that it is acknowledged, and care is taken 

 not to destroy it. It haunts the oak- and pine-woods, which suffer so severely 

 from the attack of the caterpillars of the processionarv moths ^ that large numbers 

 of trees are absolutely killed through the loss of their foliage. The caterpillars 



1 Anopthalmus. -Trechus. * Aepus marinus and A. robinii. ^ Calosoma inquisitor. ^ Cnethncamjia. 



