COLEOPTERA. — CICINDELIDJE. 51 



kept alive, I never saw these organs employed in the manner suggested 

 by Mr. Curtis, although I repeatedly saw them seize their prey. 

 Nothing is known respecting the transformation of the exotic species 

 of this family ; Latreille, however, considers that they are similar to 

 those of the European ones, neither have the pupae been observed. 



Respecting the name given to this group of insects, it is to be ob- 

 served that our Latin dictionaries, and Cowper's pretty poem, Ad Ci- 

 cindelam, supported by the authority of MoufFet ( Theatr. Ins. cap. xv. 

 De Cicindeld), and some others of the old entomologists, would lead 

 the entomological tyro to suppose that the Glow-worm was the insect 

 under consideration. Such, however, is not the case ; Linnaeus, who 

 at first described that insect as a species of Cantharis, having with 

 evident impropriety applied the name of Cicindela to the Tiger- 

 beetles. GeoftVoy, however, erroneously considering the latter as not 

 even generically distinct from the Linnaean Carabi (which he regarded 

 as the Buprestis of the ancients), improperly gave the name of Ci- 

 cindela to the Soldier-beetles (Telephorus, or the Cantharides of 

 Linnaeus), applying at the same time the name of Cantharis to the 

 Blister-fly (Canth. vesicatoria), and to the Glow-worm, the old Greek 

 name of Lampyris. In the subsequent editions of the Systema 

 Naturae, Linnaeus adopted the latter alteration, and the Glow-worm is 

 now known by the name of Lampyris ; but for the Tiger-beetles, 

 which he correctly considered as distinct from the Carabi, he still re- 

 tained the name of Cicindela, which, notwithstanding its evident 

 impropriety, has been universally adopted. The Soldier beetles, he 

 named Cantharis, and the real Cantharis of the shops or Blister-fly 

 he called a Meloe, whilst to complete the confusion Fabricius con- 

 sidered the Blister-fly as distinct from Meloe, and gave it the name 

 of Lytta. Such is one of the instances (of which it is to be regretted 

 that too many are to be found in the works of the earlier entomo- 

 logical nomenclaturists) of that want of unity which has resulted from 

 the great deficiency of some fixed rules of nomenclature in Natural 

 History. In the instances before us, this confusion still exists ; for 

 although the two insects which gave rise to it, the Tiger-beetle and 

 the Glow-worm, have at length by general scientific usage acquired a 

 title to the names of Cicindela and Lampyris, modern entomologists 

 are still at issue respecting the names of the Blister-fly and the 

 Soldier-beetle, the former being called by some of the most recent 

 authors (Dejean, Gyllenhall, &c.,) Lytta; and by others (Latreille, 



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