8 INSECTS ABROAD. 



has received on that account the specific name of niygaloiJes, 

 i.e. like the Mygale. 



Its colour is black and shining, and the creature has a singu- 

 larly menacing air, so that it well merits the fanciful name that 

 has been bestowed on it. Generally, the Tiger Beetles are fur- 

 nished with powerful wings, but the Mantichora is entirely 

 wingless, the elytra or wing-cases being soldered together, so 

 that the insect is unable to leave the ground. 



The part of this Beetle which most strikes the eye is the head, 

 with its armature of crooked and most powerful jaws. In the 

 illustration the jaws are represented as they appear when open. 

 When they are closed, they cross each other nearly as far as do 

 the fingers of the clasped hands, so that a bite from one of these 

 formidable insects is no joke, even to a human being. 



Most, if not all, of the Tiger Beetles have their jaws thus 

 crossing each other at the tips, — a provision, as I imagine, for 

 retaining in their grasp the insect prey on which they feed. In 

 this insect the jaws are not regularly curved, as is generally the 

 case with insects, but take a sharp and almost angular bend at 

 about one-third of their length from its base. The side of each 

 jaw, or mandible, as it is scientifically called, is strongly toothed 

 at the base, and altogether the insect possesses a prehensile appa- 

 ratus that has few parallels among its many kinsfolk. 



The habits of the Mantichora are just those which might be 

 inferred from its appearance and structure. It is swift of foot, 

 quick and active in general movements, and, living in the dry 

 sandy plains of Southern Africa, has a way of hiding beneath 

 stones from the fierce glare of the sunbeams, and of darting 

 quickly from its place of concealment when any creature passes 

 by on which it can pounce. The insect is represented of the 

 natural size. 



This tribe, the Mantichorides, is separated from the Cicin- 

 delides on account of the structure of the fore-legs, which have 

 the tarsi similarly shaped in both sexes, and with cylindrical 

 joints. The present species was called by Thunbeig Ciciudela 

 yigantea. 



Another tribe of the Tiger Beetles is that which is called 

 Megacephalides, or Big-headed Tiger Beetles. In these, as the 

 name implies, the head is very large, so as to give the insects 



