LARVAL HABITS OF THE TIGER BEETLES. 169 



The pupal cells are long and curved and are shaped much like the burrow 

 ot C. limhalis (fig. 19). The larvae enter the prepupal stage in the last half 

 of May, emerge as adults in the latter part of June and reach the surface 

 during the first few days of July. They reach sexual maturity in about two 

 or three weeks ; the life cycle occupies two years. 



CiCINDELA CUPRASCENS. 



After much labour and many fruitless trials, I have succeeded in rearing a 

 few larvse of this species to the second stage. They have never been found in 

 the field, due no doubt to the fact that they make burrows that are ragged at 

 the edge and are like those of many other animals. 



In my cages the female after making very many holes in the sand, laid a 

 few eggs (July). The first larval stage lasted about one month and individuals 

 in the second lived until the last of October without change. The life-history 

 is thus far entirely parallel with that of C. lepida, to which this species is 

 regarded as being more nearly related than to any other species hitherto 

 mentioned. The adults appear at the same time as those of C. lepida. 



V. Taxonomy. 



Larvee belonging to several genera of the CicindelidcB have been described, 

 but our knowledge of their characters is at present too meagre to make a 

 key practicable. The following characterizations of the described forms may, 

 however, prove helpful. 



Manticliora has the first antennal segment thick and the others very 

 slender (Kolbe), while in all of the remaining described genera the antennal 

 segments taper gradually distalward. In AmhlycMla the second segment is 

 as long as the others taken together (Geo. Horn). Eucallia and some 

 species of Collyris (R. Shelf ord) have two ocelli on each side, Amhlychila has 

 one, and the remaining described forms four. McGillivray made no place in 

 his key to the families of Coleopterous larvse for larval Cicindelidce with less 

 than four ocelli on each side, and Kolbe does not state the number in Manti- 

 cliora but implies that there are four. Omus and Collyris have three pairs of 

 spines on the dorsum of the fifth abdominal segment. All are about of a 

 length in Collyris ; the middle one is much the longest in Omus. Amhly- 

 chila, Megacephala, and Cicindela never have more than two. In Amhlychila 

 the inner one is the lono-er, while in all of the others the outer one is the 

 longer ; the inner may be absent. 



The larva3 of the different species of Cicindela are difficult to distinguish. 

 The habitat, the form of the burrow, and the size and colour of the head and 

 the prothorax are good taxonomic criteria, but these do not suffice. The 

 distribution and number of bristles on the dorsal side of the head and the 



