THE YOUNG 



NATURA.LIST. 



18 



botanists which exactly suits my ideas of 

 what a hand-book to the British Beetles 

 ought to be, that is " The Botanist's Pocket- 

 book," by W. R. Hay ward. 



Our purpose in these pages is to take 

 various genera at random and give as 

 concisely as we can, the characters of the 

 genus, and of the species composing it which 

 are likely to be met with by the beginner, 

 and for this purpose we shall at present 

 confine ourselves to the Geodephaga, as the 

 insects of this group are among the first 

 met with by young collectors, and because 

 the present time of the year — and from now 

 to April, is the harvest time for this group. 



On page 87 of Vol. 3 of the Y.N., I 

 commenced a brief outline of the chief sub- 

 orders into which the coleoptera have 

 generally been divided by recent writers, 

 and the article concluded with a table which 

 may be useful to my young friends, as an 

 introduction to the classification and ar- 

 rangement of their captures. In that outline 

 the leading features of the sub-order 

 Geodephaga were described with sufficient 

 clearness, that I need not here take up room 

 by recapitulation. 



Suppose now that we have before us a 

 specimen of beetle we have decided belongs 

 to the Geodephaga, how are we to proceed to 

 find its name and place among its relations ? 

 First — to be quite scientific, we have to 

 examine whether the Maxillce are terminated 

 by a moveable hook. A diagram would be 

 very useful to explain this peculiarity which 

 is characteristic of all the British and most 

 exotic representatives of the CicindelidcB. or 

 tiger beetles, and perhaps the editors will 

 find room on the plate devoted to the genus 

 Cicindela for such an illustration. However, 



as this genus is so easily recognised from 



among all other beetles, and the British 

 species are only four (or five) in number, 

 and will be described by Mr. Smedley in an 

 early number, I will suppose that our 

 young coleopterist is suflficiently acquainted 

 with that genus to say whether the speci- 

 men under consideration does, or does 

 not, belong to it, and if it does not, it must 

 belong to the CarabidcB. Observe to which 

 of the following groups it belongs, by an 

 examination of the tibiae of the fore legs : — 



I. Anterior tibiae slender, without any 

 notch before the apex Carabides. 



2. Anterior tibiae flattened, either wavy, 

 toothed, or notched on the outer 

 side Scaritides. 



3. Anterior tibiae with a deep notch before 



the apex Harpalides. 



The Carabides and Scaritides require no 

 further sub-division at present ; but the 

 Harpalides, which comprise about four-fifths 

 of the British Geodephega, are again divided 

 into four classes. 



A. Palpi with the last joint not much (if 

 any) smaller than the proceeding one. 



