COLEOPTERA. — CARABID^E. 69 



The larvae of Zabrus gibbus {fig. 2. 6.) already mentioned, are 

 described and figured by Germar in the first volume of his magazine; 

 they are long and flattened, being nearly of equal breadth throughout, 

 except towards the tail, which is gradually narrowed : the body ap- 

 pears to be of a more fleshy consistence than in the majority of these 

 larvae, and the body is terminated by two small spines. The pupa does 

 not present any material characters. 



A Swedish naturalist, M. Acrel, in a Memoir inserted in the 

 sixth volume of Nova Acta, of Upsal, relating to larvae and other 

 objects sometimes found in the human stomach, has described and 

 figured a larva w^hich he considers to be that of Sphodrus leKcopthal- 

 mus, and which had been ejected from the stomach of one of his 

 patients. Such, of course, is not the real habits of this insect, since 

 Latreille considers that the larvae figured by Gcedart, {fig- 107. a, i,) 

 are referrable either to this species or to Abax striola. Certainly, 

 Goedart's insects, in their general appearance, strong jaws, and pre- 

 dacious habits, coincide with the typical larvae of this family, one of 

 them being described as preying voraciously upon softer larvae; and 

 the other, which remained in the larva state two years, and of which 

 he has given the transformations, feeding, not only on other larvae, 

 but also on the pupae of ants, the eggs of mole crickets, &c. 



I am not certain to which species of the family the larva which 1 

 have represented in fig. 2. 4. is referable ; it agrees, however, with 



him that being on a visit in Burdwan in Bengal, one night returning home I ob- 

 served by the h'ght in a lantern the larvaj crawling in the road. I immediately took 

 it to be the larva of some large Coleopterous insect, but had not the least idea to 

 ■which it belonged till the day after, when I observed at the foot of a large Banian 

 tree several Anthia guttata, which I could not, however, secure, as they retreated into 

 holes when I came near them. I therefore ordered my palankin-bearers to dig them 

 out, when we at the same time obtained another of the larvae found on the pre- 

 ceding evening ; without being positive, as I wrote to M. Latreille, I now naturally 

 considered it to be that of an Anthia and concluded it was in the habit, during the 

 night, of leaving its hole and crawling about in search of worms. M. De Haan hav- 

 ing observed to me that this larva, whereof he had seen a figure in the French works, 

 appeared according to his observations to belong to an Elater, I informed him that 

 on the very tree where we obtained the larvaj from the holes at the roots, I found 

 Elater fuscipes Fabr., in great abundance; this being the largest Elater which ever 

 came under my observation in Bengal. I think this larva is much too large for such 

 an insect, nor should I think a larva of an Elater would crawl so well on tlie ground. 

 In other parts of India very large Elaters are found ; in Java I once took a pair as 

 large as E. flabellicornis." Copenhagen, July 5. 1830". 



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