114 NATURAL HISTORY OP 



to give a historical and descriptive account of th 

 leading groups and most remarkable species belong- 

 ing to this extensive and important tribe of insects. 



The first division of the Coleoptera includes all 

 the kinds which have five joints in each tarsus, on 

 which account it is named 



PENTAMERA, 



$^o 



a term derived from two Greek words, irtvra> Jive* 

 and ^o;, a part or joint 



The species which most systematic writers place 

 at the head of the coleopterous order, constituted 

 the Linnaean genus CICINDELA, a term which was 

 anciently applied to various destructive insects, as 

 well as to those possessing luminous properties. This 

 precedence is assigned to them owing to a certain 

 perfection and development of structure, by which 

 they are fitted for a mode of life pre-eminently car- 

 nivorous. The legs are long and slender to enable 

 them to pursue their prey with rapidity, the eyes glo- 

 bose and remarkably prominent, and all the organs 

 employed for the purposes of prehension and masti- 

 cation of the most efficient kind. Of these the man- 

 dibles are most conspicuous, as they project from 

 the head, and are garnished with long and powerful 

 teeth. The same circumstance is observable in these 



