306 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



PROCERUS GIGAS. 



The geographical distribution of the genus is remarkable. It is restricted, with the exception of one 

 small group of species, to the north temperate zone, Southern Europe and Western Asia yielding the 



most species, and North America relatively the fewest. The 

 single exception to this northern range is Chili, in the southern 

 and coldest provinces of which, as far as the Strait of 

 Magellan, a few species are found, of great splendour of 

 colouring and elegance of form, constituting a sub-genus. The 

 interval which separates this outlying antarctic colony from 

 the northern main body has a width of seventy degrees of 

 latitude, no species of Carabus having yet been met with in 

 tropical America, nor, in the Eastern Hemisphere, in tropical 

 Asia, South Africa, or Australia. The species are very 

 numerous and varied in mountain ranges, the Caucasus, 

 Pyrenees, Alps, and Altai being very abundantly stocked ; a 

 few remarkable species are also found in the Atlas range, and 

 in the Himalayas and mountains of Southern and Western 

 China. The genus is also remarkable for the extraordinary 

 variability of its specific forms, the variations being often 

 confined to definite localities, and tending to the formation 

 of sub-species and representative species. 



Carabus proper is the centre of a group of genera, some 

 of which contain insects of very large size. Such is Procerus 

 (of one species of which, P. gigas, we present a figure), con- 

 taining a small number of bright blue and violet species, 



restricted to South-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. Another is Damaster (see figure of Damaster 

 blaptoides), an eccentric form called the " fiddle-beetle " by the Japanese, 

 to whose country the genus is confined. Calosoma, a gemis almost as 

 handsome as Carabus, is distributed over tropical and south temperate as 

 well as northern regions, but does not reach very high latitudes or great 

 alpine elevations. Some of the species have the remarkable habit of 

 climbing trees in search of caterpillars, which constitute their prey. 

 Nebria is a numerous genus, of smaller size and slighter build, restricted 

 to temperate and arctic latitudes, and Elaphrus, having a similar geo- 

 graphical distribution, is remarkable for its prominent eyes, like the 

 Tiger-beetles, towards which family the genus is certainly an approxima- 

 tion ; the species, of which four are found in Britain, are marsh insects, 

 and are found running over damp earth in the sunny days of early spring. 

 Among the exotic forms of this section, the most extraordinary is 

 Amphizoa, found in the valley of the Sacramento, in California. In the 

 structure of its sternum and haunch -sockets, and in its naked antennse, 

 it resembles the true Dyticidse much more closely than any form of 

 Carabidse, but its legs are formed for running, not swimming. Its place 

 in a natural arrangement seems to be at the commencement, indifferently, 

 of the two chief families of the tribe, indicating that it is a survival of 

 some primitive form from which these families have branched by subse- 

 quent evolution. Another remarkable group are the Ozcenince, medium- 

 sized Carabidse, found in tropical and warm countries at the roots of 

 plants or under the bark of trees. They have a small fold in the outer 

 margin of the wing covers, a feature which is observed elsewhere in no 

 group but the very aberrant family Paussidw, described farther on. The 

 numerous sub-family Scaritidce, or burrowing Carabidse, belong also to this first division, as do 

 also the allied group Siagonlnce, found chiefly in sandy districts round the Mediterranean. One 

 significant character of the division is the disconnection which exists between the various sub-families 



DAMASTER BLAPTOIDES. 



