v ADEPHAGA TIGER-BEETLES 2OI 



I 



itself the family Ainphizoidae. The Bombardier-beetles make an 

 exception as regards the abdominal structure, for in some of them 

 no less than eight segments are visible, either along the middle 

 line or at the sides of the venter. In Hydroporides (one of the 

 divisions of Dytiscidae) the front and middle feet have each only 

 lour joints. Many naturalists unite the Gyriuidae with the 

 Adephaga, and a few also associate with them the Paussidae and 

 Khyssodidae; but we think it better at present to exclude all 

 these, though we believe that both Paussidae and Ehyssodida.- 

 will ultimately be assigned to the series. The larvae are usually 

 very active, and have a higher development of the legs than is 

 usual in this Order. Their tarsi possess two claws. 



Fam. 4. Cicindelidae (Tiger -beetles). Clypeus extra il'ma 

 laterally in front of tlif insertion of the antennae. Lower li[> ///'/// 

 thepalpi usually greatly <lerrlopc<l, Imt ////// Hie Jiijula and parn- 

 glossae very much rrJm-ml, often scarcely to l>e detected. J\Li,, ///>/< 

 ////A fhc outer lobe ////////// a ttro-jointed palp? the inner /"/"' 

 elongate, furnished at the tip -u'ith <i_ hook-like process, which is 

 ii.li/nlli/ articulated by joint i'-itli the lobe itself . The tiger-beetles 

 are very active Insects, running with extreme speed, and some- 

 limes living in a similar manner; they are all predaceous, and 

 amongst the most voracious and fierce of the carnivorous beetles 

 so that they well deserve their name. Bates, speaking of the 

 Amazonian Me</at:rp]ilu, says " their powers of running exceed 

 anything I have ever observed in this style of Insect locomotion ; 

 they run in a serpentine course over the smooth sand, and when 

 closely pursued by the hand they are apt to turn suddenly back 

 and thus bailie the most practised hand and eye." He further 

 says that the species he observed (being of diverse colours) 

 agreed in colour with the general colours of the " locale they 

 inhabit." The larvae of Cicindelidae live in deep burrows, sink- 

 ing more or less vertically into the ground, and in these they 

 lake up a peculiar position, for which their shape is specially 

 adapted; the head and prothorax are broad, the rest of the body 

 slender, the fifth segment of the abdomen is furnished on 1 1 it- 

 back with a pair of strong hooks; the ocelli on the sides of the 

 head are very perfect. Supporting itself at the top of the burn >w 

 by means of these hooks and of its terminal tube, the larva blocks 

 the mouth of the burrow with its large head and pr;>thorax, and 



1 In Theratides this outer lobe is in a rudimentary state, like a seta. 



