CHAPTER II. 



THE GEODEPHAGA. 



THE word with which this chapter is headed is not a 

 very alluring one, and yet to an entomologist it would 

 say that the chapter contains the history of the best 

 developed and some of the most interesting of the 

 British Beetles. The term Geodephaga is formed 

 from two Greek words, signifying earth-devourers, 

 and is given to the large group of predacious Beetles 

 which live on the ground. There is another large 

 group, called the Hydradephaga, or water-devourers, 

 i.e. those predacious Beetles which inhabit the water. 

 We will take these two important groups in succes- 

 sion, selecting such examples as may best illustrate 

 them. 



It must be, in the first place, observed that any 

 Beetle may be recognised as belonging to either of 

 these groups by the structure of the mouth. In re- 

 ference to the illustrations already described, the 

 reader will see that each of the maxillae (Fig. 4) is 

 furnished with a four-jointed maxillary palpus. All 

 these carnivorous Beetles possess the same organs, 

 but, in addition, they have an inner lobe, which is 

 also furnished with its palpus. Both these groups are 



C 



