CAItABIDvE. 



55 



With regard to the 



Fig. 25. — Carabus cancel- 

 led us. Larva X J. 

 (After Schiodte). 



classification of the Carabidte, much 

 has been written ; they have from 

 the very first attracted collectors, 

 and by many have been regarded 

 (with the comparatively small family 

 Cicindelidte) as the head of the 

 Coleoptera ; but the tendency now is 

 to place them at the end rather than at 

 the beginning. 



There is much to be said for 

 Lacordaire's classification of the group 

 (Gen. des Coleppteres, Vol. i.), but 

 the Legions, Sections, and Tribes are 

 somewhat hard to follow, as he gives 

 no initial tables. Moreover, he ap- 

 pears to be wrong in some points, 

 as when he places the aberrant Mor- 

 molyce between TJiyreopterus and 

 Catascopus, under his tribe Peki- 

 callides, and includes under the same 

 section the Peeicaleides and Pseudo- 

 morfhides. If we except the last 

 named group and the MoemolycenvE, 

 the CarabiDjE may be at once separ- 

 ated into two great divisions, the 

 Cakaben^ and the HaepalinvE, as follows : — 



I. Mesothoracic epimera reaching the middle 



coxal cavities, which are not entirely en- 

 closed by the sterna ; anterior coxal 

 cavities either open or closed behind .... Carabince. 



II. Mesothoracic epimera not reaching the 



middle coxal cavities, which are entirely 

 enclosed by the sterna ; anterior coxal 

 cavities closed behind ; anterior tibia) 

 deeply emarginate in front Ilarpalince. 



Of the middle coxa? Leconte and Horn (Classification of the 

 Coleoptera of North America, p. xxiii) write as follows : — " The 

 middle coxse are surrounded by the meso- and metasternum; 

 when the closure is not complete the coxal cavities are said to be 

 open externally, in which case a trochantin is often visible, and 

 the epimera reach the cavity ; occasionally, as in CAEABiNiE, the 

 epimera form part of the outer margin of the cavity without any 

 trace of trochantin." 



In the aberrant genus Mormolyce the sides of the elytra form 

 broad leaf-like expansions and the head is very elongate. 

 Lacordaire considers it to be a Thyreopterus with the greater part 

 of the organs monstrously developed ; it differs from all the other 

 members of the family in the fact that both the metasternal 

 episterna and mesosternal epimera attain the middle coxal cavities, 



