CHAPTER III. 



GEODEPHA G!^— continued. 



We now coiae to the important family of the Carabidoe, to 

 which belong some of the largest and most powerful of tlie 

 Greodephaga. The Carabidse are in many points exactly like 

 the Cicindelidfe, and if isolated parts of the mouth were taken 

 to an entomologist, he would have some difficulty in knowing 

 to which family they belonged. But, whereas the Cicindelidte 

 have a notch on the inner side of the front tibiae, these limbs 

 are without the notch in the Carabidse. 



The typical genus is well represented in this country, and its 

 members are familiar to us by the title of Ground Beetles or 

 Garden Beetles. They are the largest of the family, some of 

 them being an inch in length, and strongly though elegantly 

 shaped. They are very active, as far as their legs go, but they 

 have no wings, these members being only found in a rudi- 

 mentary state under the hard and shining elytra, which in 

 most of the species are soldered together and cannot be opened. 

 In one species, however, Carahus granulatus, the elytra are 

 capable of motion, and the wings are more developed than is 

 generally the case. They are, however, much too small to be 

 used for flio-ht. The mandibles have a small tooth in the 

 middle, and the labial palpi have the last joint securiform, or 

 axe-shaped. The thorax is somewhat heart-shaped, and has the 

 posterior angles boldly marked. In the male the tarsi of the 

 first pair of legs are broader than in the female. 



Thirteen British species of Carabus are known, one of which 

 is represented on Plate I. Fig. 6, in the act of chasing the 

 Brachinus. It is the Carabus nionilis, a common and very 

 handsome insect. It is exceedingly variable in colour, and 

 slightly so in marking, but may be described as follows: — The 

 head is black, with bronze or green reflections, wrinkled in front, 



