BEETLES 159 



strong spades the larva can soon dig out the soft 

 pith, which is expelled from the opening made by the 

 mother. 



In all Cicindelid larvae there occurs on the back of 

 the seventh segment of the body a hump or process 

 armed with two or more long spines. When resting 

 at the top of their burrows the larvae are bent into 

 an S-shaped curve, and the spines, together with the 

 legs, serve to prop them up and keep them steady 

 when they are struggling with some large and strong 

 victim that has fallen into their clutches. In Collyris 

 larvae the hump is small and beset with six little 

 spines, which all point forward. In the specimens I 

 examined there was no very pronounced S-shaped 

 curve of the body, and it did not appear to me that 

 the spines would be of very great service in holding 

 the larvae in their places when struggling with power- 

 ful prey. The Cicindela larva rests at the top of its 

 burrow, closing the mouth of it with its large head 

 and the first segment of the body. When any small 

 insect running on the ground passes over this living 

 trap-door it is seized in a pair of powerful jaws, and 

 the larva drops like a bullet to the bottom of its 

 burrow, there to devour its prey at its ease. 



The action of Collyris is a little different, and has 

 been observed by two entomologists, Mr. F. Muir and 

 Mr. J. C. Kershaw, who studied the larva of a species 

 of the genus at Hong-Kong. This species, like the 

 Javan and Bornean C. emarginatus, lived in the stems 

 of a shrub, and fed on ants and aphides which it 

 seized by darting out of its burrow, and then retiring 

 to shelter again. It is obvious with this different 

 mode of seizing prey that the powerful dorsal spines 



