132 



INSECTS. 



as 0. nemoralis (represented in the figure on p. 124). The latter has a purplish 

 thorax and bronzy elytra, marked with a few rows of conspicuous punctures. 

 Another species which we figure, 0. auratus, is very rare in England and doubtfully 

 indigenous, but in France it is common and does much service by destroying the 

 cockchafers and their grubs. The genus Calosoma approaches Carabus in many 

 of its characters, but may be easily distinguished by its shorter, broader, and more 

 rounded prothorax, and the greater relative width of its elytra. Calosoma 

 inquisitor, though rare and found only in parts of England, may be regarded as a 

 true British species ; but the species figured (C. sycophanta) is only an occasional 

 visitant to this country and cannot be considered indigenous. The Carabidce as a 

 whole, though sufficiently varied in their external structure, do not exhibit any very 

 unusual or striking peculiarities of form, and the species already considered, with 

 a few more presently to follow, may be taken as typical of the commoner forms 

 met with throughout the family. In the genus Mormotyce we have, however, a 

 remarkable exception. The species of this strange genus three in number, and all 

 very much alike have been found in Java, Sumatra, and other East Indian Islands. 

 They are of a pitchy-brown colour, and have the body much flattened, and the 



head greatly elongated, while their 

 antennae are also very long; but, as 

 will be seen from our figure, the chief 

 peculiarity in the appearance of these 

 extraordinary insects is due to the 

 great lateral expansions of the borders 

 of the elytra, and the curious manner 

 in which these expansions are pro- 

 longed behind. M. pliyllodes, the 

 best known species, occurs in Java, 

 Borneo, and the Malay peninsula; 

 and the people of Java, struck no 



doubt by its peculiar shape, call it " the violin." Some of the largest individuals 

 of the species are nearly three and a half inches long, and measure more than 

 an inch and a half across the broadest part of the elytra. We have 

 alluded, in our introduction, to the burrowing habits of some of the 

 Carabidce. The Scaritince are a group that possess such habits, and 

 the accompanying figure of Scarites gigas will give an idea of the 

 general form characteristic of nearly all the species of the group. 

 The genus Scarites comprises a large number of species, all of a 

 uniform black colour, and most of them of a moderate size. They 

 make their burrows in the banks of streams, the seashore, or other 

 suitable places, and rarely leave them during the day, lying in wait 

 for their victims at the mouth of the holes. The genus Zabrus, 

 which we have next to notice, forms, so far as its habits are con- 

 cerned, one of those exceptions that go to prove the rule. For, 

 while it is true that almost all the Carabidce are carnivorous and predaceous 

 insects, some at least of the species of Zabrus and a few others are largely, though 

 probably not wholly, addicted to a vegetable diet. The species (Zabrus gibbus) 



Mormolyce phyllodes (from a small specimen). 



Scarites gigas 

 (nat. size). 



