206 



Cakaeid.e- 



-mSECTS.- 



-Htdradephaga. 



narrow thorax, and reddish legs. The grub is consider- 

 ably magnified, and must be a very ferocious fellow to 

 any poor insect getting into its arms or jaws. It has 

 live eyes grouped behind the antennre. Its maxillary 

 palpi are spined. The fore legs have four spines on 

 each shoulder. Its pupa has a pale, bright, testaceous, 

 depressed body, with two sets of fleshy tufts on each 

 side of the segment behind the head. The perfect 

 insects were found by M. Auguste Sull^, under bushes 

 deeply sunk in sandy ground, on the banks of the Mis- 

 sissippi near New Orleans. Our friend, who described 

 and figured them,* found the insect in all its stages 

 from July to October. The larva constructs a feeble 

 cocoon with thread and earth, in which to undergo its 

 transformations. 



The Carabidx are generally very abundant in gardens 

 and fields, running among grass or concealed under 

 clods of earth or small stones. Some, such as the 

 brilliant Pcccilus and Amara, run actively about in the 

 sunshine, and are called " Sunshiners" from this habit. 

 Generally, however, it is at night that they are on the 

 alert. They are a very useful group of beetles, helping 

 to keep down many noxious larva; of other insects, 

 which, but for the Carabida;, might extend to an alarm- 

 ing degree. In this country, at least in its southern 

 parts, a tree-frequenting species is found, called Calo- 

 soma inquiiilor. On the continent of Europe a large, 

 brilliant, metallic-tinted species of the same genus, called 

 Calosoma sycophanta, is not uncommon. This fine 

 beetle passes its life on trees, feeding chiefly on cater- 

 pillars. The ravages committed by some of the cater- 

 pillars of the family Bombyoidse are in many places 

 much restrained by the Calosoma, which deposits its 

 eggs in the nests of the moths, so that the voracious 

 Carabidre from their infancy begin to reduce the num- 

 bers of the noxious moths. 



It has been noticed in France that in those parts 

 where the Carabus auraius is abundant, the Cockchafer 

 is almost unknown. The Cockchafer is a very destruc- 

 tive insect, especially where it abounds, as the grub 

 feeds on the roots of grass, continuing in that state for 

 some years. This fine Caiabus seizes the dialer before 

 it has deposited its eggs, and it is said to be fonder of 

 the eggs than of any other part of the insect. 



The finest Carabi are found in China and Siberia. 

 In North China is the noble green, warted, or nippled 

 Carabus ccrJeslis, and the great blue-black C. Lafossei; 

 in South China, the great Carahtis 2}rodi(/us, with its 

 elytra cut out at the end. How fine, too, are the 

 Siberian Carabi — also the exquisite Carabus Victing- 

 Jiocii, black, exquisitely roughened, and the elytra and 

 thorax encircled by the most lovely narrow girdle of 

 green, passing into bronze and fiery red. Near it is the 

 beautiful Carabus Bowringiamis from Japan or Chow- 

 san, named after my friend J. C. Bowring, Esq. 



The Carabi from Chili and the extreme south of 

 Terra del Fnego are very fine also. 



Our little Dyschirms, one of the Scaritid^, shakes its 

 prey like a dog worrying a rat ; and the larger species 

 allied to it seem to have the same habit, for Mr. Adams 

 records the manners of one which he observed abun- 



* Annales de la Roc. Ent. France, second Berica, vol. vii., 

 p. 2'J9 (1849) ; Plate 8, fig. 2. 



dant on the shores of the Gorean archipelago. " When 

 approached it burrows rapidly in the sand, bites very 

 severely, and makes vigorous efforts to escape. It is 

 a most predaceous creature, feeding greedily on the 

 Talitri, Gammari, and other small Crustacea which 

 abound in these places." 



" One very dark and warm night, in the early part 

 of the present month I observed a considerable quantity 

 of some brightly luminous matter on a gravel path 

 in my garden. On a closer inspection I found that 

 this consisted of many small detached patches, among 

 which some animal was moving at a rapid pace, carry- 

 ingwithhim alarge quantity ofthesame hmiinous matter, 

 and every now and then depositing a fresh patch. My 

 curiosity was much excitedby such a remarkable proceed- 

 ing ; I procured a light as quickly as possible, and dis- 

 covered, to my surprise, that all this illumination had 

 been the work of a Nebria brevicollis, who was literally 

 detected flagrante delicto, I have often before this 

 seen a strong phosphorescent light produced by vari- 

 ous species, such as worms, centipedes, and the small 

 white animals allied, I believe, to the Oniscidae, so 

 common in decaying vegetable substances; but this ia 

 the first instance I have met with of a coleopterous 

 insect depositing any luminous matter on the ground. 

 I can form no conjecture as to the cause of its proceed- 

 ings, unless the light was intended for a sexual signal." 



The Aepus marinus and A. Eobinii are found in 

 places where at times they are covered by the sea. 

 So is the curious Madeiran genus Thalassophilus, 

 described and figured in the " Coleoptera Maderensia" 

 of Mr. Wollaston. 



Group— HYDRADEPHAGA {The Watci- Beetles). 



In this group the beetles are all aquatic, and have 

 legs peculiarly formed for swimming. The two hind 

 pairs are flattened like an oar, and are ciliated or 

 fringed with hairs; the hind pairs being placed at a 

 considerable distance from the others, whereby a much 

 greater impulse is given to the animal in its motions 

 through the dense element of which it is an inhabitant. 



Their bodies are more or less oval, the best shape 

 for water, and they are convex beneath, somewhat like 

 a boat, and generally smooth above. They swim 

 rapidly, occasionallj' coming to the surface, when 

 they keep the feet motionless, " the body ascending, 

 being specifically lighter than water. In this situation 

 they rest obliquely, the extremity of the body being 

 protruded out of the water, whereby the air is enabled 

 to enter the large space beneath the elytra, and reach 

 the spiracles along the sides of the back." 



The Water-beetles, of which at least five hundred 

 and fifty species are known, are scattered over the 

 whole world, and are divided by Lacordaire into the 

 following six sections : — 



I. Posterior coxie not widened in front. 



a Prosternum received into a hollow of the mcsosternnm. 



This tribe is formed by a North American insect 



{AmpJtizoa insolens]^ found in tlie valley of the 



Sacramento. It seems to be a link connecting this 



grotip witli the Geodephaga. 



