52 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



Stephens, c*v:c.) Canthaiis; whilst the Soldier-beetles are by some 

 writers termed Telephorus, and by others Cantharis. 



The number of insects belonging to this family scarcely exceeds 

 250 (or one tenth of the family Carabidae*); of these by far the 

 greater portion are exotic, and the Baron Dejean Iras described about 

 200 of them as belonging to the genus Cicindela. They are generally 

 of a moderate size, the majority varying from half an inch to an inch 

 in length : none are beneath one third of an inch long; their forms, as 

 well as the disposition of their colouring, are generally very elegant. 



The affinities of these insects with the Carabidaj are very varied 

 and interesting ; thus whilst Manticora and Anthia (as indicated by 

 Latreille, Col. d'Eur. No. 1.) are strikingly allied together, Elaphrus 

 seems not less nearly to approach Cicindela. In like manner Colliuris 

 Latr. closely resembles some of the genera of the Brachinides, espe- 

 cially Colliuris De G. (Casnonia Latr.), and Agra (see Kirby, Faun. 

 Atner. Bor. p. 5.) ; and M. Audouin has lately placed Trigono- 

 dactyla (one of the Brachinideous genera) at the head of the Cara- 

 bidje, from the identity of structure of its maxillae and those of 

 the Cicindelidas. Mr. MacLeay also appears to consider that the 

 Cicindelidae and typical Carabidte are allied, from the identity in 

 the unnotched anterior tibiae. From these varied points of affinity 

 of the Cicindelidfe with the various divisions of the Carabidae, it is 

 impossible to arrange them in a series, or to describe them in the 

 order in which they are arranged by nature. A more distant relation 

 of the Cicindelidae with the Brachelytra, by means of Stenus has 

 been suggested by Mr. Kirby {Fauna Bor. Amer.). 



Several modes of distribution of the genera of this family have 

 been proposed by Latreille, MacLeay, Brulle, ckc.f ; but these authors 

 have chiefly selected isolated organs, and as the genera are entirely 



* It is a remarkable circumstance in the distribution of insects, that whilst some 

 families abound in species, such, for instance, as the Carabida;, &c. others intimately- 

 allied to them, as the Cicindelidje and Dyticidae, possess but very few. The same 

 observation may be made of generic groups: thus, Dejean enumerates 163 species 

 of Carabus, whilst of the more widely distributed allied group, Calosoma, he only 

 describes 28. 



f Mr. Kirby divides the family into Longicollia (Colliuris), Brevicollia (Cicin- 

 dela), Fissicollia (Manticora), forming them into a circle with some of the Brachi- 

 nides, namely, Agra as the counterpart of Colliuris, Anthia of Manticora, and 

 Callelda of Cicindela. These Brachinideous genera appear, however, to me to be 

 in this manner unnaturally separated from their legitimate allies, the remainder of 

 the»Brachinideous group. 



