82 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



tait point de proie." He conjectures that they wei'e occupied in 

 searching for their mates. I should however rather consider that, as in 

 the case of the Scarites Isevigatus already, and a species of Dyschirius 

 subsequently, mentioned, they were searching after other insects 

 (which formed these burrows) for their prey. M. Lefebvre has de- 

 scribed, in Guerins Magasin cC Entomologie, a remarkable monstro- 

 sity occurring in a specimen of Scarites pyracmon, in which three 

 distinct tibiae and tarsi arise from the extremity of one of the anterior 

 femora. 



The Oxygyiathus anglicanus Hope is a remarkable insect, of which 

 a single dead specimen was picked up near Peckam, Surz'ey. It is 

 half an inch long, and is evidently an insect imported from the tropics. 

 Brulle considers it identical with the Camptodontus Cayennensis Dcj. 



The character pointed out by Mr. Curtis, for the discrimination of 

 the species of Clivina, is not constant ; the C. fossor sometimes 

 occurring with ample wings. See the observations of Mr. Stephens 

 upon this subject {Illust. Mand. i. 177.). The insects considered 

 as distinct species by English entomologists are regarded as varieties 

 of C. fossor by some Continental authors. 



The species composing the genus Dyschirius, Bonelli, are the smallest 

 of this sub-family, never exceeding one-sixth of an inch in length, 

 and, like the Dromii, their numbers in temperate climes far exceed 

 those of the larger genera. Their colours are generally black, tinged 

 with brassy green. There appear to be twelve or fourteen British spe- 

 cies, of which the D. gibbus is very common in damp situations. Ac- 

 cording to Ahrens, however (who has published a monograph upon this 

 genus in Thoii s JEntomological Archives, vol.ii.), the insect described 

 by Gyllenhal, Dejean, &c. as the gibba, is distinct from the true 

 gibba of Fabricius ; the former insect, which is our common British 

 species, is described by him under the name of C. minima, whilst 

 Mr. Curtis has also described another British species under the latter 

 name, which must consequently be changed. The Rev. G. T. Rudd 

 has published some observations upon the habits of one of the species 

 of this genus, noticed by him upon the Yorkshire coast : " On turn- 

 ing up the sandy tracks or burrows above high-water mark, to 

 uncover the Hesperophili (species of Brachelytra), I found their fero- 

 cious enemy, the aforesaid Dyschirius, pursuing his work of destruc- 

 tion. These Dyschirii burrow after, seize, shake, as the Cicindela cam- 

 pestris does its prey, and devour the luckless Hesperophih : so intent 

 are they on their purpose, that I have frequently observed them to 



