178 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



abundant in gardens — Harpalus ruficomis. Like them, it loves 

 bright sunshine, and may be found disporting itself on warm 

 spring days. It is, however, chiefly nocturnal, and on dull 

 days may be ousted from its retreat under stones. Occasionally 

 this species indulges in a vegetarian diet, and the luscious 

 strawberry affords the necessary variation. This insect is of 

 oblong form and of extremely sombre colouring, the only relief 

 to its funereal hue being furnished by the reddish antenna? and 

 legs. I have taken it by dozens in strawberry-beds which have 

 been mulched. 



In sandy localities may be noticed on the wing, in bright 

 sunshine only, a number of insects swift of flight, but whose 



outward form it is practically 

 impossible to recognise. If 

 they are closely watched, as 

 they can be — for although 

 their flight is rapid the actual 

 distance travelled is not great 

 — they will be at once distin- 

 guished as the ferocious little 

 Tiger beetles, which, when 

 captured, will frequently with 

 their jaws clasp so tightly the 

 collector's net, that they are 



Fig. 37,-Male and Female Glowwoem with difficulty taken there- 

 [Lampyris noctiluca). from. As they dart swiftly 



by, there is nothing to suggest 

 the bright colours which are now revealed to the eye — a lovely 

 green ornamented with spots of white or yellowish-white. They 

 do not remain long in one spot, and it must be remembered that 

 they are as fleet of foot as they are agile on the wing. Though 

 Cicindela campestris (fig. 36) is under three-quarters of an inch 

 long, it is one of the most ferocious of British beetles. So 

 rapacious indeed is it that if two specimens were captured and 

 placed in a box together there would be a battle royal, and in the 

 end it would be a case of the survival of the stronger. They render 

 signal service to the gardener, and this both as perfect insects 

 and as larva?. Indeed, the cunning the latter display in awaiting 

 their prey with jaws extended at the entrance to their burrows 

 is truly marvellous. 



