68 INSECTS. 



firmly soldered together. It is frequently to be met with 

 in houses haunted by cockroaches and crickets, finding 

 there a plentiful supply of food, the nocturnal habits 

 of these insects (especially the cockroach) agreeing well 

 with its own, as, indeed, with those of most of the 

 Carabi. Predaceous though the Carabus be, it is almost 

 as common to find it half devoured by ants as alive and 

 well, and it appears highly probable that these little 

 creatures attack it when alive, and when one would have 

 supposed it capable of defending itself from their attacks 

 That ants do so attack large living beetles is well 

 known, and the writer once saw a cockchafer under the 

 process of being devoured alive. In this case the whole 

 of the abdomen was gone, and great part of the thorax, 

 only enough being left to hold together the head, wing- 

 cases, and three legs, one on one side and two on the 

 other. With these three legs and this nearly empty 

 half of a thorax, the miserable creature was walking 

 about, carrying with him his " detested parasites," which 

 continued their attentions till they were somewhat forcibly 

 brought to a conclusion by the finder. 



Another insect of this division is the " Bombardier," 

 which is not uncommon, and attracts attention by a 

 peculiar habit of suddenly ejecting an acrid fluid, as by 

 a little explosion, and which is visible and, at least in 

 the larger foreign species, even audible. The beetle is 

 easily provoked by irritation to these explosions, which 

 however, become weaker when repeated. Mr. Holmes 

 (Zool. 475) mentions the fact that the discharge has 

 been induced so long as four days after death. 



The second Subdivision of the predaceous long- 

 horned beetles are the Hydradephaga (vSwp, hydor, 

 water). 



The water-beetles may generally be recognised as 



