10 INSECTS AJJBOAD. 



see examples of these coloured punctures, none of which, as far 

 as I know, are to be found in our insects at home. 



The colours of the elytra in this species are strangely variable, 

 some specimens being brown, some green, and some blue, the 

 two latter colours being often interchangeable in insects, whether 

 British or foreign. The head is always coloured like the thorax, 

 and the legs are pale yellow-brown. 



The habits of some species of Megacephala are not only 

 terrestrial, but subterranean. There are in the tropical regions 

 sundry Beetles belonging to the same group as our common 

 Dor Beetle, which make burrows in the ground under animal 

 refuse. There is a Brazilian species of Megacephala, which has 

 an odd habit of taking possession of such burrows, and, like the 

 ki lights-errant of old, defending them against all coiners. Gene- 

 rally it remains near the mouth of the hole, menacing all foes, 

 real or fancied, with its powerful jaws ; but, should it find itself 

 overmatched, it takes refuge at the bottom of the burrow. Even 

 then it does not abandon its combatant character ; for if a blade 

 of grass be pushed down the hole, the Beetle is sure to seize it 

 with its jaws, and hold on with such tenacity that it can be 

 drawn out of the hole, still clinging to the end of the grass-blade. 



1 have often wondered whether insects are capable of retain- 

 ing their memory throughout their changes, so that a dragon-fly 

 on the wing can recollect its sub-aquatic existence, and the 

 butterfly, while sipping the sweet juice of flowers, remember its 

 caterpillar banquet on the cabbage-leaf. If such be the case, 

 we may readily understand how the Tiger Beetle comes to resort 

 to the earth-burrow. It is, in fact, a return to the habits of its 

 larva-hood. 



All the Tiger Beetles live, when larvae, in burrows under a 

 loose soil, remaining with their sickle-like mandibles expanded 

 at the entrance, just like the jaws of a steel-trap, ready to seize 

 any passing insect and carry it down to the bottom of the 

 burrow, where it can be eaten in peace. And the mode of 

 action when attacked is exactly the same in both eases, for, 

 as all practical entomologists know, the recognised mode of 

 obtaining the larva} of Tiger Beetles without hurting them, is 

 by poking a straw or grass-blade into their burrows, and pull- 

 ing them out gently while they cling to the supposed enemy 



