COLEOPTERA. — CICINDELIDJE. 55 



or even ships lying at anchor by night, thus totally differing from 

 their European brethren (Trans. Ent. Soc. London. No. ].). M. 

 Guerin has figured a remarkable species from Cochin China, in his 

 Iconographic, in which the legs are excessively long and slender ; and 

 M. Barthelemy has described and figured another curious species (^Cxc. 

 Audouinii) from the coast of Barbary, in vi'hich the last joints of the 

 antennae are much thicker than the rest {Ann. Soc. Ent. Fratice, 

 1835, pi. 17. f. 1.). The species had, however, been previously de- 

 scribed by Mr. Vigors in the Zool. Journ., under the name of C. Ritchii. 

 It forms the genus Laphra, in Dej can's new catalogue. 



The largest insects in the family belong to the genus Manticora, of which 

 the type is the M. tuberculata De G. (maxillosa Fabr.). It is about 

 two inches long, an inhabitant of the arid sandy plains of Southern 

 Africa, entirely of a black colour, and destitute of wings, the elytra 

 being soldered together : hence the insect is confined to the ground ; 

 it runs with great agility, and secretes itself under stones, Mr. G. R. 

 Waterhouse has described a second species of the genus (M. lati- 

 pennis) brought from the interior of Southern Africa by Dr. Andrew 

 Smith, by whom it was discovered in a clump of dead trees {Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. Sept. 1837). Other genera (Ctenostoma, Aptema, Dromica, 

 Platy chile) are also apterous, or furnished only with rudiments of 

 wings. The species of Megacephala, also owing to the great length 

 of their legs, and their somewhat less developed wings, are more 

 accustomed to running than flying than the other winged species of 

 the family ; and according to M. Lacordaire, Meg. sepulchralis 

 makes no use of its wings, but runs with great agility through the 

 grass growing in sandy situations in the forests of Brazil. This 

 species emits a strong smell of roses, but which shortly after death 

 becomes fetid and disagreeable.* Another Brazilian species of the 

 same genus hides itself beneath dry dung in the burrows of the On- 

 thophagi and Coprides, where it remains during the heat of the day, 

 endeavouring to defend the mouth of its hole, if an attempt be made 

 to drag it forth. If this be persisted in, the insect soon descends to the 

 bottom of its burrow, whence it may be drawn in the same manner as the 

 larva of our common species, by introducing a straw, which it inmiediatcly 

 seizes, and will then allow itself to be drawn up forcibly, rather than 



* This species difTcrs so materially from tlie otlicr species of the gemis in ils pro- 

 duced labrum and short antenna?, as to require a distinct subgenus for its reception. 



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