THE MANTICORA. 



461 



ever^ direction without turning itself ; and, lastly, gifted with agile wings that enable it to 

 rise u the air as readily as a fly or a wasp. Moreover, it is covered with a suit of mail, 

 gold embossed, gem studded, and burnished with more than steely brightness, light yet 

 strong, and though freely yielding to every movement, yet so marvellously jointed as to 

 leave no vulnerable points even when in full action, and, in fine, such a suit of armor as 

 no monch ever possessed and no artist ever conceived. True, to the naked or un- 



Tricondyla Wallace!. 

 Manticora latipennis. 

 Harpalus caspicus. 



CIcindela octonotata. 

 'Anthia sulcata. 



Lebia crux-minor. 



observant eye it seems to be but a dully green beetle with a blue abdomen, but if placed 

 under the microscope, and a powerful light directed upon it, it blazes out with such 

 gorgeous brilliancy that the eye can scarcely endure the glory of its raiment. The 

 groundwork of its upper surface seems to be burnished and encrusted thickly with 

 emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and rubies of unspeakable brightness ; while the whole 

 of the under surface is as if made of watch-spring steel, so hard and so shining is its 

 texture, and so rich a purple blue is its color. 



Even in its larval state the Tiger Beetle is a terror to other insects, snapping them 

 up as they pass by its burrows and dragging them into the dark recesses of the earth 

 to be devoured. Several American species inhabit trees, and are quite as destructive 

 among the branches as their congeners upon the earth. The typical species which is 

 represented in the illustration is the EIGHT-SPOT TIGER BEETLE of India. 



The British Tiger Beetle is remarkable for exuding a powerful scent, much resem- 

 bling the odor produced by a crushed verbena leaf. 



An example of a very large genus belonging to this family is given in the engraving 

 under the title of Manticora latipennis, the generic title being given to it because its great 

 dimensions and ferocious habits are thought to bear some analogy with those of the 

 fabled Manticora, a beast which the older naturalists were accustomed to describe 

 with great zest, and in an engraving now before me had figured with the face of a 

 human being, with hair carefully parted, six rows of shark's teeth, and a tail armed with 

 a very arsenal of projectile spikes. Two species of this genus are known, and their very 



