116 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



ready to seize any unwary insect that comes within 

 reach ; sometimes it makes a sudden dart if the ob- 

 ject is at some distance, and immediately retreats 

 to the interior of its den. Their voracity is not 

 satisfied with other insects, but extends to their own 

 species ; and when two individuals form their holes 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of each other, the 

 stronger devours the weaker, that there may be no 

 interference with his own pursuits. When about 

 to change their skins or be converted into nymphs, 

 they retire to the bottom of their holes, having pre- 

 viously sealed up the entrance. 



The perfect insects are found in the spring and 

 summer montiis, usually in sandy fields exposed to 

 the sun. They seem rather partial to heaths, and 

 certain kinds are found only in the vicinity of the 

 sea. 



In its present restricted form the genus contains 

 upwards of 200 species, only six or seven of which 

 occur in Britain. The most common throughout 

 the northern parts of Europe is C. campestris, one 

 of the most beautiful of our indigenous insects. It 

 is of a fine green colour, glossed with coppery-red, 

 and having five yellowish spots on the margin of 

 each elytron, and another towards the middle. It 

 is distributed over the whole island, but is rather 

 local in Scotland. 



A beautiful species representing this genus is the 



