LONGHORNS AND PREY-HUNTERS 51 



the most highly developed of all, the Geodephaga (or 

 predaceous ground beetles, as the name signifies), which 

 in classification are placed at the head of the whole 

 order. Two species of this important group are found 

 in cellars and dark outhouses. They closely resemble 

 one another in shape, but, nevertheless, may easily be 

 distinguished, both by size and colour. The larger, 

 Sphodrus leucopJitUalmus (Fig. 20), which is also a 

 bakehouse insect, is black ; and the 

 smaller, Pri stony clius terricola, of a 

 steel-blue colour. Both are ex- 

 ceedingly active, as well befits 

 creatures which carry on a per- 

 petual warfare against their smaller 

 and weaker brethren, and subsist 

 by rapine ; indeed, the whole section 

 Geodephaga are renowned for the 

 extraordinary agility of their move- 

 ments, in which characteristic they 

 surpass all other Coleoptera, and 

 in conformity with these habits, 

 their legs are long and slender. 



._. rv 7 7 r^ i c FlG - 20. Sphodrus leuc- 



Ihe name bphodrw is Greek tor ophthaimus (natural 

 the " active, violent, or vehement 



one," and so far as mere meaning is concerned, would be 

 equally applicable to almost all the Geodephaga. 



Sphodrus is a fine insect, fully an inch long, but Pris- 

 tonyclius attains little more than half this length. They 

 are so similar in shape that a figure of one will be quite 

 sufficient to enable both to be recognised. The most 

 elegant part about them is the thorax, which is of the 

 form called by entomologists " heart-shaped " that is, 

 the outline of the margins consists of a double curve on 

 each side, the front half being convex and the hinder 



