THE CARNIVOROUS GROUND-BEETLES. 303 



of their wings, but are extremely swift runners, coursing in serpentine motion over the smooth sand- 

 banks of rivers in South America ; the species are all of pallid, clayey-white hues, and the burrows of 

 their larvae reach a depth of two feet in the sand, the perfect insects concealing themselves during the 

 day in similar burrows. The antennae are longer and thinner in these interesting insects than in the 

 typical sun-loving genera of the family. In this and other respects they resemble the brilliant metallic- 

 coloured Tetrackce, some of which also seek their prey at night, but they do not abstract themselves so 

 completely from the daylight as do their pallid relatives, the Phseoxanthae. The genus Tetracha occurs 

 in the Mediterranean region, in Australia, and in tropical and temperate America. The only other 

 Tiger-beetle forms we need mention are the Manticorce and their allies, the giants of the family. They 

 are distinguished by their uniform black colour and the absence of wings, and are found in the 

 extensive sandy districts of South Africa (where the largest, the true 

 Manticorce, resembling huge black spiders, occur), in California (the genus 

 Omus), and at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains, which is the home 

 of the Amblychila ci/lindriformis, an insect formerly of extreme rarity, but 

 which has recently been taken by American entomologists in great abundance 

 under wet hides, laid as traps 011 the ground over-night. An isolated form 

 of this sub- family, the Ayriiis fallaciosus, is found at Sandy Point, in the 

 Strait of Magellan. 



FAMILY CARABIDJS, OR CARNIVOROUS GROUND-BEETLES. 

 The second family (Garabidcv) is distinguished from the Tiger-beetles 

 by the general form, or fades, of its species, and by slight modifications, 

 difficult to make clear by description, rather than by definite structural 

 characters. All the apparent peculiarities of the external anatomy, such 

 as the simple anterior tibia?, many-toothed mandibles, atrophied labium, 

 jointed apex of maxillae, <fcc., are repeated in some few of the genera of 

 Carabidae. These genera belong to the first, or less numerous, division. In PHJEOXANTHA KLVGII. 

 the great bulk of the family, forming the second division, the notch on the 



inner edge of the anterior tibiae and the sensitive pubescent surface of the basal joints of the antennae, 

 of which only two or three joints remain polished, supply effective points of distinction. Bearing this 

 in mind, the student will never be in a difficulty in assigning a doubtful species to its right family. 

 In Carabidae, the style of coloration and markings of the Tiger-beetle is nowhere seen ; nor do the 

 mandibles, even when long and toothed, as they are in some few genera, assume the slender curved 

 form and sharp dentition characteristic of that family ; other minor differences are the narrower and 

 simpler upper lip and less prominent eyes. 



Although the habits of the Carabidae are very varied, there is not much diversity in the forms 

 assumed in their early stages, or in their transformations. With few exceptions, the larvae conform 

 to a simple type, having elongated bodies, tapering behind, furnished with six legs and a horny plate 

 on each of the thirteen segments, the thoracic segments being more horny, but not much differing in 

 shape from the rest. The head is of oval form, and the opening of the mouth small, showing that 

 their food must be taken in small and semi-fluid particles. The upper jaws, like those of the perfect 

 insects, are much smaller than in the Tiger-beetles ; and the eyes are six in number on each side, 

 disposed in two rows immediately below the short antennae. They inhabit generally the same 

 situations as the perfect insects ; and both are often seen together in the sheltered and dark places 

 where they seek their prey, such as under stones or logs of wood, about the roots of herbage, in moss, 

 among dead leaves, or under loose bark of trees. Some species have the anomalous habit of feeding 

 on vegetable substances ; at least, this is indubitably the case with the larva and perfect insect of 

 Zabrus gibbus, a dark bronzed species of the Pterostichini sub-family, of oblong, heavy build, found in 

 great abundance in Central Europe, and less commonly in England. It frequents wheat-fields, and 

 devours the grain, proving in some years very destructive in France and Germany. Vegetable-feeding 

 propensities have also been suspected in other genei-a, such as Amara (" Sun-beetles," allied to Zabrus), 

 Ditomus, and some species of Harpalus. 



The number of species of Carabidae at present known is not less than 10,000; and they appear 



