SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



289 



SOME BRITISH DIVING BEETLES. 



i;v is. J. Burgess Sopp, F.E.Met.Soc, K.E.S. 

 Genus DYTISCI'S Linn. 



IF the Cicindelidae be looked upon as the "tigers" of which Dickens humorously said that they died 

 of the terrestrial Adephaga, the Dytiscidae on land and were unable to live in the water, 

 can lay equal claim to be regarded as the Notwithstanding this assertion by our popular 



Fig. 1. Dytisits makuinalis L. 



Draini bii K. J. Burgess Sopp. 



1. Outline sketch of larva (dorsal surface). 2. Male beetle. 3 aud 4. Female beetle, showing 

 the two forms assumed. 5. One of the smaller spiracles, enlarged, li. Under side of forefoot of 

 male beetle, showing the two larger discs (at bottom of figure) and general arrangement of the 

 smaller ones (magnified). 7. Wing of Dytiscus. 



''sharks'" of the aquatic branch of that most novelist, however, the various species of the genus 



important division of the Coleoptera. manage to exist pretty comfortably under either 



Unlike the Carchariidae, however, the Dytisci condition, leading as it were a dual life ; for 



are amphibious, belonging to that group of animals although passing by far the greater portion of 



March 1901.— No. 82, Vol. VII. L 



