SOUTH AMERICAN TIGER BEETLES. 



21 



They are the sole forms of the family which occur in the 

 northern and central parts of Europe and North America. In 

 the Amazons region the shade-loving and semi-arboreal Odonto- 

 cheiloe outnumber in species the Cicindelse as twenty-two to six. 

 All but one of this number are exclusively peculiar to the 

 Amazonian forests, and this affords another proof of the adapta- 

 tion of the fauna to a forest-clad country, pointing to a long and 

 uninterrupted existence of land covered by forests on this part 

 of the earth's surface." 



Excepting that these South American species prefer the foliage 

 to the ground, their habits 

 are much the same as those 

 of the ordinary Tiger Beetles. 

 They prey upon other insects, 

 and are able to catch even the 

 swift-winged flies by pouncing 

 on them as they settle on the 

 leaves. I have seen the com- 

 mon green shore-crab catch 

 bees and flies in a similar 

 manner, watching them as they 

 alight on the sand, and flinging itself on them before they 

 could re-open their just-furled wings. 



The name Odontocheila is formed from two Greek words 

 signifying " toothed lip," and is given to this genus in conse- 

 quence of the form of the upper lip, which is rather long and 

 toothed. 



The colour of this insect is very conspicuous. Most of the 

 species are green, blue, or brown, but this little Beetle is shining- 

 metallic crimson bronzed with green, so that it blazes out like a 

 red star amidst its duller companions. There is a small S-like 

 white mark on the elytra. 



Fig. 5. — Odontocheila de Gandii. 

 (Crimson with yellow marks.) 



We now come to a most extraordinary group of Tiger Beetles 

 called Colly ridge, in which the whole body is elongated, and the 

 head and thorax are drawn out into a definite neck. 



One of these Beetles, named Therates labiata, is a native 

 of the Ke Islands, in the Malay Archipelago. Its colour is 

 deep purple-black glossed with green, and its "labium" or upper 

 lip is very conspicuous, being broad, and of a bright yellow 



