﻿204 



COLEOPTERA 



to all is great activity and excessive wariness. The genns 

 Pogonostoma, to which we have already alluded, is confined to 

 Madagascar, where the species are numerous, but are rare in 

 collections on account of the difficulty of securing them. Eaffray 

 informs us that certain species frequent the trunks of trees, up 

 which they run in a spiral manner on the least alarm. The only 

 way he could obtain specimens was by the aid of an assistant ; 

 the two approached a tree very quietly from opposite sides, and 

 when near it, made a rush, and joined hands as high up the 

 trunk as they could, so as to embrace the tree, when the Pogonos- 

 toma fell to the ground and was captured. 



Fam. 5. Carabidae {Ground-beetles). — Clypeus not extending 

 laterally in front of the antennae. Maxillae with the outer lobe 

 destitute of an articulated hook at the tip. Antennae covered 

 {except the basal joints) with a minute pubescence. Hind legs not 

 very different from the middle pair, formed for running, as usual 

 in beetles. This is one of the largest and most important of the 



families of Coleoptera, in- 

 cluding as it does 12,000 

 or 13,000 described 

 species. In this country 

 Carabidae are nearly 

 entirely terrestrial in 

 habits, and are scarcely 

 ever seen on the wins; ; 

 many of the species indeed 

 have merely rudimentary 

 wings ; in the tropics 

 there are, however, many 

 arboreal forms that take 

 wing with more or less 

 alertness. The larvae (Fig. 

 92, A) are usually elon- 



biG. \)2. — Leistus spimbarbis. A, Larva (after ^ 



Schiddte) ; B, imago. Britain. gate in form and run 



freely ; they may be known 

 by their tarsi ending in two claws, by the exserted, sharp, calliper- 

 like mandibles, by the body ending in two processes (sometimes 

 jointed) and a tube of varying length projecting backwards. 

 The pupae usually have the hind pair of legs so arranged that 

 the tips of the tarsi project behind, beyond the extremity of the 



