Order 5. 



COLEOPTERA. 



493 



pieces, fitted for trituration ; and that the existence of a complicated apparatus for an excrementitial 

 secretion, possessing ammoniacal qualities, is one of the most striking features of the Carabi.] 



They are divided into two tribes. 



The first, that of the Cicindeletae, Latr., comprises the genus 



CiciNDELA, Linu., — 

 "WTiich have the tip of the maxillae furnished with a corneous, slender hook, articulated at its base with 

 these under jaws. The head is robust, with great eyes, jaws very advanced and toothed, and a very 

 short tonguelet hidden behind the mentura. The labial palpi are distinctly composed of four joints ; 

 they are commonly hirsute, as well as the maxillary palpi. The majority of the species are 

 exotic. 



Some species have a tooth in the middle of the notch of the mentum, with the labial palpi wide apart at the 

 base. 



Manticora, Fab., has the tarsi alike in both sexes, with cylindrical joints. Manticora majcillosa. Fab. [and M. la- 

 tipennis, Waterh.] from Caffraria. M. pallida, Fab., forming M'Leay's genus Platychile, [figured in Klug's 

 Jahrbucher]. 



Those species which have the three basal joints of the anterior tarsi dilated in the males, with the body oblong 

 or oval, and the thorax nearly square, compose the genera Megacephala, Latr., (with a transverse short upper lip) ; 

 Oxtjckeila, Dej. (with a large triangular upper lip); Euprosopus, Latr., and Cicindela proper, which has the labial 

 palpi not longer than the maxillary, the third joint of the former not manifestly thicker than the following joint, 

 and the three dilated basal joints of the anterior male tarsi elongated. 



The body of the last-named insects is generally of a darker or lighter green colour, varied with shining metallic 

 tints, and with white spots upon the elytra ; they frequent dry situations exposed to the sun, run very quickly, 

 fly off when they are approached, and alight at a short distance ; if again disturbed, they have recourse to the 

 same means of defence. 



The larvae of two indigenous species, the only ones yet observed, burrow in the earth, forming a cylindrical hole 

 of considerable depth, using their jaws and feet in its construction, and loading the concave back of their heads 

 with the grains of earth which they have detached, with which they ascend backwards, resting at intervals, 

 fixing themselves to the inner walls of their burrow by the assistance of the two hooked tubercles upon the back ; 

 when arrived at the orifice, they jerk off their load to a distance. Whilst lying in ambush the flat plate of the head 

 exactly stops the mouth of the hole, forming a flat surface with the surrounding soil. They seize their prey with 

 their jaws, and even rush upon it, precipitating it to the bottonr of their burrows, with a see-saw motion of the 

 head. They likewise descend them with equal quickness at the least danger. If they find them too narrow, or the 



nature of the earth is not favourable to them, they make a new burrow. Their 

 voracity is even extended to other larvae, even of their own kind, stationed in the 

 same situations. They close the orifice of their burrow when they change their 

 skin, or undergo their change to the pupa state. These observations have in part 

 been communicated to me by M. Miger, who has greatly studied the larvae of 

 Coleoptera. 



Cicindela campestris, Lin., is half an inch long, of an obscure green above, with 

 the upper lip white, and with a slight tooth in the middle ; each of the elytra with 

 five small white dots. Very common throughout Europe, especially in the spring. 

 Cicindela germanica, Lin. [the smallest British species], and some others, are 

 of a narrower form ; they fly less than the foregoing. All these species are winged, 

 but other exotic species are apterous, forming Dejean's genus Dromica. 



Clenostoma, Klug, has the body long and narrow, the thorax long and knotted, 



campestris, and and the third joint of the male tarsi is produced on the inside into a plate. The 



species are from tropical America. 



Therafes, Latr. {Eurychile, Bonelli) ; Colliuris, Latr. (Collyris, Fab.) ; and Tricondyla, Latr., are three genera 



which have no tooth in the middle of the notch of the mentum, and the labial palpi are contiguous at the base. 



Therates has the form of Cicindela proper, but in the two others the body is long and narrow, and the thorax knotted. 



All the species of these three groups are peculiar to the East Indies and the islands of the adjacent Archipelago. 



[The investigation of the family Cicindelidse*, coiresponding with the Linnaean genus Cicindela, or 

 Cicindeletae of Latreille, has been greatly pursued by modem continental authors, who have described 

 a great many new species, chiefly exotic, and have added several new genera. Dejean's Species General, 

 Vander Linden's Memoir on the Insects of Java, Laporte de Castelnan, in various memoirs. Gory, Say, 

 Klug, Guerin, Gistl, &c., have particularly studied this family ; and in our own country M'Leay, Kirby, 

 and Hope, in the 2nd part of The Coleopterist's Manual, have described many new species.] 



r.g. 53.- 



-CiciDilela 



larva. . 



• [Ent^lish authors have generally adopted the plan first proposed 

 by Mr. Kirby, in his ** Century," of forming the Linnxan genera into 

 tiatural families, corresponding with the " families naturelles" of la- 



treille, and for which they retain the old Linnsan i^encric name, (iuC 

 with an uniform termination irf^.] 



