1890.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



43 



" singly. On more than one occasion I have heard this beetle make a 

 "loud noise by rubbing the abdomen against the elytra. It is a most 

 " interesting insect, not only in the structure of the mouth organs, 

 " which are remarkable, but also on account of the large spoon-shaped 

 " maxillary palpi of the male." " Occurs at Guestling, Sheire, 

 " (Surrey), in sandpits ; in moss at Fairlight, rarely " (W. H. Bennett). 



Carabus, L. — Latinised form of a Greek word signifying " beetle." 

 In this genus, with the exception of C. granulates, the wings have not 

 only become abortive, but the elytra are soldered together. The 

 beetles are mostly nocturnal in their habits. The oblique groove and 

 bristles on the inside of the anterior tibiae, which are used in cleaning 

 the antennae, form interesting features in the Carabidae. Dr. Sharp 

 includes twelve species in the first edition of his Catalogue, and but 

 ten in the second edition. Messrs. Matthews and Fowler enumerated 

 thirteen in their Catalogue of 1883. In Coleoptera of British Isles, 

 1887, Canon Fowler includes twelve species as British. Of the thir- 

 teen, C. cancellatus is discarded by both Dr. Sharp and Canon 

 Fowler. C. auratus is certainly imported with vegetable produce 

 from the Continent, and often found in the London markets, but I 

 believe has, no other claim to rank as British. The single speci- 

 men in my collection was picked up at Harwich, after the unlading 

 of a continental boat, and is perhaps "quite as much British as any 

 other specimen " of this species. C. convexus appears to have very 

 much less claim to be considered as a British insect, and is struck out 

 of the list by Dr. Sharp. Canon Fowler (Coleoptera of British Isles) 

 also says: — "the best plan would be to strike the species pro- 

 " visionally off the British list." The number of species in the genus 

 is thus reduced to ten, which are as follows : — 



C. intricatus, L.— This species, although undoubtedly British, is 

 seldom taken. It seems to be confined to the south-west of England. 

 Mr. t)awson, Annual, 1856, says : — " I have stated in my monograph 

 " that four or five specimens of this insect were captured by the Rev. 

 " Mr. Hore, under the moss and lichens growing on the lower portion 

 "of the trunks of trees at Bickleigh Vale. Mr. Hore has kindly 



" furnished me with the following additional particulars They were 



" found by the side of a road through a wood, leading from Fancy, on 

 "the Tavistock Road, about five miles from Plymouth, to the river 

 "in Bickleigh Vale. They were all captured in the Spring, March 

 " and April, under the moss at the base of oaks, and were in no in- 



