38 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



the lizard's tail would be sawn against the sharp edge of the glass. 



But to return to my capture of beetles, I found I had taken two or three 

 sorts besides D. marginalis, amongst others was Hydrous caraboides, Figuier 

 in his Insect World says of these beetles — " The Bitisci, Cybister, and the 

 Gyrinida, or whirlgig beetles. These are perfect corsairs, whose rapacity 

 even exceeds that of many or the land Coleoptera. Not content with devour- 

 ing one another, when pressed by hunger, with attacking, especially the 

 larvae of all aquatic insects, such as the Libellula and Ephemera, they feed 

 also on molluscs, on tadpoles, and small fishes" (and I may add, on small 

 reptiles, when they can get them.) * * * The most carnivorous of 

 this group are the Bytisci and the Cybesters. They may be called the 

 sharks of the insect world. Nothing which lives in the water is safe 

 against the voracity of the Lytiscus. They suck greedily the bits of raw 

 meat which are thrown to them. * * "* They are to be found in stag- 

 nant waters during the greater part of the year, but principally in 

 autumn. During the winter they bury themselves in the mud, and under 

 moss." 



BRITISH BIRDS : THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. MOSLEY. 

 Geuus i Emberiza. 



Emberiza.— ? 



This genus of birds differs from those which have proceeded it, and agrees 

 with some which will follow in having the bill of a conical form, thick at the 

 base and strong, adapted for cracking or husking seeds. In the present 

 genus the lower mandible is as wide as the upper one, the edges of both 

 being bent inward so as to give the bill somewhat the appearance of a pair of 

 round-nosed pliers. A knob or tooth projects from the underside of the 

 upper mandible. First primaries very short, the fourth being the longest in 

 the wing. Tail, the outside feathers slightly longest. Generally the males 

 are conspicuously or brightly coloured, and their appearance is different 

 between summer and winter, not by any actual moult, but by the wearing 

 away of the differently coloured margins of the feathers. We have few native 

 species, all to be found throughout the year, but the first to be mentioned is 

 much more abundant in winter than in summer. Five others have been 

 recorded as accidental visitors. 



