100 CARABUS. 



Among the smaller species the Carabus cupreus 

 is a very frequent insect, being seen almost every 

 where during the summer months in gardens, dry 

 pathways, &c. generally running, like the rest of 

 this genus, with a very brisk motion: its usual 

 length is about half an inch, and its colour cop- 

 pery-olive, varying in different specimens into 

 gold-green, brassy, purple, &c. &c. 



The British species of Carabus, according to 

 Mr. Marsham, amount to no less than a hundred 

 and nine, and in this as well as in most other 

 genera, we may well suppose that many are yet 

 undescribed. 



In many parts of Europe, as in Germany, 

 France, &c. is found a species of middling size, 

 and which is known among entomologists by the 

 title of Carabus crepitans : it is thus named from 

 the extraordinary faculty which it possesses of 

 discharging from behind, on being pursued or 

 irritated, a blueish, fetid, and penetrating vapour, 

 accompanied by a very smart explosion: this 

 operation it has the power of repeating ten, 

 twelve, or even twenty times in succession, with 

 equal violence, thus frequently escaping by terri- 

 fying its pursuers. This insect is said to be 

 often pursued, and sometimes preyed upon by a 

 larger species of Carabus, against the attacks of 

 which the peculiar faculty above-described is sin- 

 gularly successful. From some late observations 

 it appears that some exotic species of this genus 

 have a similar power in a still higher degree, be- 

 ing of a much greater size than the European 

 insect. 



