8902 Entomological Society. 
(being, I believe, then the only entomologist in the colony), and found it a Calosoma, 
The following year a few more were_found, and three or four were also said to have 
flown into one of the shops in Adelaide at night, attracted by the oil lights. 
“ After this came a lull for a few years, during which this much-prized beetle was 
rarely seen; but in 1851 several were again observed, and in the following year they 
immensely increased, and appeared to reach in numbers their culminating point, for 
in 1853 and since they seemed gradually to decrease again. Last year (1862) they 
were rather more’ numerous than usual, and about two dozen were taken altogether, 
in the same spots as those of previous years. Their time of appearance is almost 
always through the month of November, and so strictly is this the case that they are 
never louked for and seldom seen even a few days before or after that month. On 
one occasion, however, I found a solitary one a few days before Christmas, 
“ The habitat of these beetles has been hitherto exceedingly local, first a few miles 
north of Adelaide, and since almost confined to the foot of the North Adelaide hills; 
thence spreading to the park lands between them and South Adelaide, and occasionally 
to adjacent outskirts of the town. I hardly ever heard of their being found anywhete 
else, though on one occasion I took one myself thirty-two miles north, or six beyond 
Gawler Town, in a garden. My idea is that once found in North Adelaide and neigh- 
bourhood, they were retained there by the quantity of cow-dung scattered about, under 
the drying pieces of which they frequently hide. In the above places they kept almost 
exclusively to the foot-paths, and were thus at once perceived: there they were seen 
often crossing briskly enough, but not so swiftly as to prevent their being easily taken, 
Occasionally I have perceived one at a distance, standing motionless in the middle of 
a path, the sunlight playing brilliantly on his polished elytra, and not moving till I was 
close upon him. They are continually trodden under-foot, being considered from their 
aspect ‘venomous’! They evidently avoid the grassy spots, and come out into ‘ the 
clearings, as the weeds and grass seem to incommode them and prevent their 
walking. I have never in a single instance known them attempt to fly, nor ever 
observed them on the wing, though they have ample organs for that purpose. 
“‘ These beetles are fond of all damp situations, but still do not like rainy weather, 
which seems to clog them; and again the hot weather of December I think but few 
of them cvuld stand, so the term of their full-fledged existence is but of short 
duration. Their food, I think, must be the different kinds of caterpillars about in 
October and November, and occasionally those naked ones (of the Noctuide) found 
under cow-dung, where I have sometimes observed the beetle. They often exude 
too, when caught, a brown liquid from their mouths, smelling strongly of stercorarious 
matters. ’ 
“The larva I have enclosed is one of the larger ones I have taken, shrunk, of 
course, a little iu size: it was probably full grown. I never found any of these 
larve till the year 1852, when the greatest number of the imagos were taken ; all were 
found at the same places as the beetles, at the same time, and nearly all of their full 
size. These facts are singular, and seem to prove that these insects remain in either 
the larva or pupa state several years, and then are all perfected at the end of so many 
years at the same time. I have seen the perfect beetle and full-grown larva together 
‘under cow-dung, and on the surface of the ground. The length of the pupa-condition 
(whose place of rest is, I suppose, beneath the surface of the ground) I know not yet. 
There has lately been a rumour of these Carabide being found in the far north (from 
three to six hundred miles inland), but this has not been authenticated. 
