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The wonderful transfortnation taking place in beetle life is 

 well illustrated by this insect. First a small egg ; then an ugly — 

 if anything in nature can be called so — nearly colourless larva, 

 almost without the power of locomotion ; then comes the great 

 sleep of pupa life ; then the fierce, handsome and perfect insect, 

 capturing its prey not by cunning, but by its superior agility with 

 legs and wings. The elytra, or wing cases, of the common tiger 

 beetle, to the eye alone, are of a dull green or shagreen, spotted 

 with whitish yellow or buff; and it is only with the aid of the 

 microscope that the real beauty of the insect is seen. This acts 

 like the wand of a fairy : the dull green vanishes, giving place to 

 a surface of little rounded knolls, each of them sparkling with 

 green and gold reflections. 



To the same section as the above belong the ground tiger 

 beetles ( carabidce J, many of them apterous, or without wings ; 

 but for this they amply make up in having an extra length of 

 limb, travelling far in search of prey. One species of them may 

 often be seen during the summer months, lying crushed on the 

 footpaths about the suburbs of our city. They are of various 

 colours — bronze green, violet, etc.; and several of them are of 

 large size, averaging an inch in length. This family of beetles is 

 very useful in gardens, and ought not to be destroyed, but 

 encouraged to remain whenever seen. They live entirely on 

 insects, young slugs, etc., all of which, more or less, are vegetable 

 feeders. The ground tiger beetles are not much seen while the 

 sun has power, being nearly all nocturnal feeders ; but they may 

 be found during the day under loose stones, in heaps of refuse, etc. 

 One of them, the golden tiger, (C. amaties) in France goes under 

 the name of " the gardener," it is found so useful in keeping down 

 the numbers of the cockchafer, a beetle very destructive to plant 

 life. Another member of the Carabidce family I wish to bring 

 forward to your notice is C. nitens, one of the rarer ground tigers, 

 but considered by Rye to be the most brilliant and effectively 

 coloured beetle we possess. To this section also belongs a family 

 of beetles quite different in their habits from the foregoing, namely, 

 the Aj?iara, or Sunshines, as they are commonly called, delighting, 



