THE TIGER BEETLE. 



613 



Passing over the details of classification, we come to the first family 

 of Insects, scientifically called the Cicindelidse, and popularly known by 

 the names of Tiger Beetles and Sparklers, both titles being very 

 appropriate, the former on account of their exceeding voracity, their 

 ferocious habits, and the wonderful activity of their 

 movements, and the latter in allusion to the bril- 

 liancy of their coloi*s as they flash along in the 

 sunshine. These Beetles are represented by several 

 British species, among which the common Tiger 

 Beetle (^Cicindela campestris) is the most common, 

 and perhaps the most beautiful. Well does this 

 little creature deserve its popular name ; for what 

 the dragon-fly is to the air, what the shark is to the 

 sea, the Tiger Beetle is to the earth, running with 

 such rapidity that the eye can hardly follow its 

 course; armed wdth jaws like two reapers* sickles 

 crossing each other at the points ; furnished w^ith The Tiger Beetle 

 eyes that project from the sides of the head and {Cicindela campes- 

 permit the creature to see in every direction with- ^'''^^* 

 out turning itself; and, lastly, gifted with agile wings that enable it 

 to rise in the air as readily as a fly or a wasp. Moreover, it is cov- 

 ered with a suit of mail, gold-emboss- 

 ed, gem-studded, and burnished with 

 more than steely brightness, light yet 

 strong, and, though yielding freely to 

 every movemer* yet so marvellously 

 jointed as to leave no vulnerable 

 points even when in full action, and, 

 in fine, such a suit of armor as no 

 monarch ever possessed and no artist 

 ever conceived. 



Even in its larval state the Tiger 

 Beetle is a terror to other insects, 

 snapping them up as they pass by its 

 burrows, and dragging them into the 

 dark recesses of the earth to be de- 

 voured. Several American species in- 

 habit trees, and are quite as destruc- 

 tive among the branches as their con- 

 geners upon the earth. 



The British Tiger Beetle is remark- 

 able for exuding a powerful scent much resembling the odor produced 

 by a crushed verbena-leaf. 



A very large and important family of Beetles, the Carabidse, now 



52 



The Violet Ground Beetle 



{Carabiis violacem). 



