482 THE INSECT WOELD. 



stabulary, day and night, without holidays or repose, protecting 

 our fields. They never touch the smallest thing. They are 

 occupied entirely in arresting thieves, and they desire no salary 

 but the body of the thief himself." But ignorance destroys these 

 useful hunters. Children, seduced by the richness of the elytra 

 of the Carabici, amuse themselves in catching these vigilant 

 protectors of our farms, without knowing the bad effect of what 

 they are doing. Fortunately, education is spreading little by 

 little in the country ; the farmers begin to be awakened to their 

 true interests, and to know how to distinguish the useful animals 

 which it behoves them to preserve in their fields for the safeguard 

 of their crops. In some places in France they have already made 

 attempts to introduce the Carabici and the Cidndeletce into gar- 

 dens, and they have found them succeed very well. 



The true Carabi are to be known by their oval convex body, 

 their long antennae, and elegantly carved thorax. They are, in 

 general, of more massive forms than the Cicindeletce, which com- 

 pose a kindred family. The latter form, in some sort, the van- 

 guard and the light troops; the others, the heavy battalions. 

 The Carabi coming out in general at night, or at least at twilight, 

 and keeping themselves hidden under stones during the day, it 

 is not easy to observe their manoeuvres. 



The Carabus auratus (Fig. 499), which abounds in fields and 

 gardens on the Continent, may be considered as the type of this 

 genus. It has elytra of a beautiful green, with three ribs, and 

 the legs yellowish. "When it is touched, it disgorges a black 

 and acrid saliva, and ejects from the abdomen a corrosive liquid, of 

 a disagreeable odour. It lives on the larvae of other insects. It 

 has been seen to attack even large insects, such as the cockchafer. 



In England and the environs of Paris, Carabus violaceous 

 (Fig. 500), whose dress, of a sombre colour, is surrounded by shades 

 of red and violet, is met with. In the Pyrenees, many Carabi with 

 metallic reflections are found, whose beautiful colours are the 

 delight of collectors ; the Carabus splendens, the Carabus rutilans, 

 &c. But the most beautiful insects of this tribe come from 

 (Siberia and the north of China. Let us mention, for example, 

 the Carabus smaragdanus, of a beautiful grass- green ; the Carabus 

 Vietinghovii, of a beautiful blue black, bordered with azure, with a 

 golden band, &c. 



