70 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



the typical larvae of the family. And as I have found numerous 

 specimens of it, as w6ll as others, but slightly differing from it in 

 essential characters, I have little doubt that it belongs to one of the 

 large common black Harpalides (perhaps Steropus madidus, or 

 Omaseus melanarius), and do not hesitate to give it as an example 

 of the group. It is black and scaly, the head {fig. 2. 5. under side) 

 is armed with two acute mandibles, two moderately long 4-jointed 

 antennae, two long ^-jointed maxillary palpi, and two short thick 

 labial palpi ; there are six small simple eyes on each side behind 

 the antennae, set in a circle. The under side of the head is scaly, 

 the parts of the mouth being inserted near the front ; the legs are 

 moderately long, and the terminal segment of the body is armed 

 with a pair of horny bifid spines. 



The larva represented in fig. 2. 7. was described and figured by 

 Desmarets {Bidletin Soc. Philomat. vol. i.), whose reasons for re- 

 garding it as that of Omophron limbatum appear to be satisfactory : 

 it is of an intermediate form between that of the larvae of the Cara- 

 bidcB and DyticidcB, being oblong, depressed, narrowed behind, with 

 the head very large, and broader than the rest of the body, and 

 armed with two very robust jaws, and other usual parts of the mouth, 

 two 5-jointed antennae, and two small eyes placed at the sides of the 

 head ; the tail is formed of a slender 4-jointed appendage, with two 

 hairs at its extremity ; the legs are moderately long. It was gene- 

 rally found in moist sandy places on the banks of the Seine, where 

 the perfect insect was also met with in company with it, the food of 

 both consisting of small sub-aquatic insects. The larva is very active, 

 and, when touched, throws up its tail in the manner of a Staphylinus. 

 The anatomical observations of M. Dufour seem to confirm the 

 intermediate location of this genus between the Carabidac and Dyti- 

 cidae; the perfect insect, although unable to swim, cannot live except 

 in damp situations, and, indeed, Clairville placed it at the head of the 

 Water-beetles. 



M. Zimmerman, in his Monograph upon Amara, has given some ac- 

 count of the early stages of the insects of this genus. Considering some 

 species as annual, and others as producing two broods in a year, and that 

 the period of their appearance is not, like that of Moths, &c. fixed to a 

 particular time, he adds, that the duration of life of these insects, 

 from their bursting from the eggs to their death, never exceeds a 

 year, whilst, in some species, it is certainly shorter. Those which 



