1843.] Extract from Note Book regarding the Genus Paussus. 425 



common ruse practised by many insects, and similate death, contract- 

 ing all its legs towards, but not close to, the abdomen, in which posi- 

 tion it will remain so long as it continues to be disturbed. This 

 circumstance, as far as I have hitherto noticed, is not a common prac- 

 tice among the Carabici, though very generally adopted by almost all 

 the Heteromerae. 



I may here observe, that many of the latter section of Coleopterae 

 possess the power of forcing out a very caustic liquid, which exudes 

 from the pores of the abdomen, and at the joints between the femur 

 and tibia of each leg, a practice commonly resorted to when they are 

 being seized. This liquid stains the skin wherever it happens to touch, 

 to a purplish black, remaining on the part for many days after ; and so 

 corrosive is its nature, that it is only when the epidermis peels off, 

 that the stain is removed. If plunged in hot water, a strong emission 

 takes place from the anus, and the water is discolored to a purple, or 

 ink black, according to the number of insects used, or requiring to be 

 killed. In a similar treatment of a Paussus, a crepitation may be heard, 

 and the abdomen becomes greatly distended, probably by rarefaction 

 of air contained in vessels which give their assistance in its explosive 

 powers, and the part retains the inflated appearance until a small per- 

 foration has been made in it with a needle's point, or such like instru- 

 ment, which allowing the escape of the confined air, enables the abdo- 

 men to contract to its natural size. The same fact is peculiarly re- 

 markable in many species of Brachinus. 



Regarding the habits of the Paussus, my experience can give little 

 or no aid, for of the seven species which I possess, one was captured 

 on a heap of manure while searching for Slaptryini at Mhow in Malwa ; 

 a second came accidentally into my net while sweeping in some high 

 grass at Sultanpore, Benares ; three species were taken at night, gene- 

 rally between the hours of nine and ten p. m., having been attracted by 

 the light on the table; another was rescued from the clutches of a small 

 black ant, which circumstance I notice merely, because a belief exists, 

 that the Paussi inhabit ant-hills, and the last was found crawling up 

 the wall of my bathing room, from which the only conclusion I can 

 arrive at is, that they are most frequently on the wing at a late hour of 

 the night, and as noted in my memoranda, generally after rain. I now 

 proceed to give the extracts alluded to, just as they stand, together 



