BBACHINID^E. 26 1 



when attacked ; but finding this useless, they retire to 

 the bottom of their hiding place; and the only means to 

 extract them then is to introduce a long straw, which 

 they seize with their powerful mandibles, and allow 

 themselves to be dragged out without quitting hold. 

 They are all usually beautifully decorated with metallic 

 splendour, and are certainly the gayest of the predatory 

 Coleoptera. To give an idea of their numbers, Cicindela 

 alone is recorded to contain more than two hundred and 

 fifty species. 



(231.) Our second family consists of the CaraUdce, 

 which will admit of subdivision into five very natural 

 sub-families, thus to be distinguished : 1. The 

 Brachinince, named from the typical genus Brachinus. 

 The distinguishing characteristic of these insects consists 

 in the abridgement of their elytra, which do not entirely 

 cover the abdomen behind. They also, in common 

 with the two next sub-families, have a deep notch 

 within the anterior tibiae. Both in form, and the 

 general fragility of their structure, they greatly resemble 

 the aberrant genera of the preceding family ; and are, 

 like them, frequently found upon plants where Lebia, 

 Dromius, Odocantha, and Demetrius constantly occur. 

 Some are so remarkable for an elongation of the neck, 

 namely, Casnonia, that Linnaeus associated them with 

 the genus Attelabus, in the vicinity of the Curculios. 

 There cannot well be a greater contrast than that pre- 

 sented by Trigonodactyla and Lebia, the one very 

 elongate and slender, the other broad and depressed. 

 But the most extraordinary form throughout the circle 

 is certainly that of Mormolyce, the true position of 

 which is doubtlessly in the vicinity of Agra. It is a 

 Javanese insect, and is distinguished for its excessively 

 flattened form : it has an elongate neck ; lengthy an- 

 tennae and elytra, which, although truncated at their 

 apex, have their sides dilated into a thin leaf, and ex- 

 tending beyond this apex ; and the legs very slender. 

 It is said to live upon trees. In elegance, perhaps, 

 all are exceeded by the beautiful Drypta of the Old 

 s 3 



