BRITISH AND FOREIGN BEETLES. 19 



times, no better character or name having been found for the 

 order of insects to which they were originally applied by the 

 Macedonian entomologist of two and twenty centuries ago. 

 More than one among our modern naturalists have sought to 

 alter the venerable term invented by the founder of their 

 science, but none of their suggestions have been permanently 

 adopted." 



During the winter months, when the more generally attrac- 

 tive classes of insects are but rarely to be met with, the 

 entomologist may still seek with success for several kinds of 

 beetles, which may be found under large loose stones, or 

 beneath flakes of dead bark, or in the shelter of matted clumps 

 of moss. 



Our native beetles are not so conspicuous in their forms, or 

 so finely coloured as those which attracted the attention of 

 Aristotle in the fine climate of Greece ; but there are many 

 among them of considerable beauty, and in fact our native 

 species of Cicindelidce are not surpassed by their near relatives 

 in the more southern parts of Europe, and are scarcely 

 inferior in beauty to some of their intertropical cousins with 

 which we shall compare them. 



The commonest, and at the same time the prettiest, of the 

 British species of Cicindela, is the well-known C. campettris 

 (Fig. 6), an elegant and active little green beetle, with yellowish 

 spots, that may be found in sandy districts on any fine sunny 

 day of early spring. This species has long been known to 

 collectors as the Tiger Beetle, being so named, as some say, 

 from its spots and stripes; but as others assert, from its car- 

 nivorous nature, preying as it does upon other insects, and 

 occasionally even upon its own species. They were also 

 called " sparklers " by the old collectors, from their brilliant 

 aspect when the sun shines upon them, especially during the 

 short but rapid flight which they indulge in during sunshine, 

 particularly when alarmed, when they make a humming noise 

 like bees. M. Desmarets was the first to observe the method 

 pursued by the larva? of Tiger Beetles for capturing their 

 prey. They construct, as he informs us, a narrow tunnel or 

 pit of the depth of about eight or ten inches perpendicularly, 



