334 On the Geographical Distribution of Insects. 



by all entomologists without exception, and at the same time 

 very rich in species, spread over all parts of the globe, and 

 consequently subjected to external circumstances of the most 

 varied kind. The genus Cicindela perfectly answers these 

 conditions, and we shall see that, in the point of view we are 

 now considering, it is divisible into many very distinct groups. 



The first (including C. Cayennensis, bipunctata, luridipes, 

 &c.) proper to intertropical America, lives in the forests on 

 leaves, and never lights on the earth but accidentally. A 

 single individual is never seen in open places nor by the 

 margin of waters. 



A second (C. sylvatica, sylvicola, &c.) frequents heaths, 

 pathways, and clearings in the wood, without ever resting on 

 leaves. A third (C. gennanica^ gracilis), lives only in culti- 

 vated fields, dry meadows, and similar places. A fourth (C. 

 maritima, tortuosa, trifascicata), is met with only on the shores 

 of the sea, and ascends the sides of rivers no farther than the 

 influence of the tide is felt. While a fifth (C. ventralis, apiata, 

 melaleuca) begins to appear where the preceding stops, never 

 leaving the vicinity of fresh water. 



These stations are strictly rigorous, and there is no doubt 

 that if the habits of all the species of this genus were known, 

 we could find grounds for indicating other divisions of the 

 same nature. 



Stations are characterized either by the insects which fre- 

 quent them, or the dominating physical characters, according 

 to the point of view in which we regard them ; but the latter 

 is the most convenient. We may, in this way, distinguish as 

 m;iny as botanists are in the habit of doing for plants. \st, 

 The Sea. No insect is known, which passes its whole life in 

 this element, and only a very small number frequent it in the 

 perfect state. Scarcely any one can be mentioned, indeed, 

 except Gyrinus marinus, which likewise lives in fresh water, 

 and the singular Hemiptera of the genus Halobates, which 

 Eschscholtz found under the tropics running along the sur- 

 face of salt water like the Hydrometra. 2d, Shores of the 

 Sea. These are rather rich in species peculiar to them, espe- 

 cially in warm countries. It is principally in this situation 

 we meet with the genus Fimelia, whose existence seems con- 



