BEETLES 63 



plete ; for although it is almost always easy to distin- 

 guish a beetle from any other kind of insect, the 

 details of beetle kinship the branchings of their own 

 family tree, so to speak often prove very difficult to 

 follow. For the purpose of this chapter we may 

 review briefly the six great groups, or series, into which 

 the order Coleoptera is divided by Dr. Sharp. Five 

 of these are " natural " - i.e., they denote actual 

 relationship among the families concerned ; but the 

 sixth, which we shall treat last, is admittedly a kind 

 of lumber-room to which numerous families have been 

 relegated until their true standing can be ascertained. 



The series Adephaga includes the tiger-beetles, 

 ground-beetles, and carnivorous water-beetles, which 

 have five-jointed tarsi, while the antennae are simple 

 in form, consisting of a series of nearly similar joints. 

 The galea, or outer lobe, of each first maxilla is two- 

 jointed, and resembles a palpus. The active larvae 

 have six well-developed legs, with two claws to each 

 tarsus. 



The tiger-beetles 1 may be represented by the 

 common green Cincindela campestvis^ which frequents 

 sandy spots during the early summer. The larva 

 forms a perpendicular shaft in dry soil, and blocks the 

 entrance with its head and thorax, supporting itself by 

 means of a pair of hooks situated upon its fifth 

 abdominal segment. When an insect approaches, the 

 " tiger " throws back its head with a rapid jerk, seizes 

 the victim with its sickle-shaped jaws, and drags it to 

 the bottom of the burrow. 



The ground-beetle family 2 comprises numerous 

 British species, which are divided into several sub- 

 families. The large violet ground-beetle 3 is a familiar 

 1 CicindelidcB. 2 Carabida. 3 Carabus violaceus 



