112 



On the Entomology of the 



[July 



soil over the same groups. If we find that in particular rich soils vari- 

 ous genera of Insects abound, and that in others of an inferior quality 

 scarcely a species can be met with, may we not naturally infer lhat there 

 must be some peculiarity in it, and that the animal groups are influenc- 

 ed by their attachment to the same ? The Botanist readily admits that 

 vegetation is materially influenced by it, but as yet the Zoologist has 

 made little inquiry respecting this subject, replete as it ever must be 

 with high interest, and well worth most serious attention. Without 

 entering deeply into the geology of India, I may state, on the authority 

 of Coionel Sykes, that the character of the geology of great part of the 

 Peninsula, like that of its vegetation, presents considerable uniformity : 

 unacquainted with its leading features, I can derive niy observations res- 

 pecting it solely from the examination of the genera before me. I will, 

 therefore, merely' give concisely what groups attach themselves to parti- 

 cular soils in different countries, and hope that the attempt, imperfect 

 as it is, may induce other naturalists to undertake an inquiry which must 

 lead to very important results. As the mountain, the valley, and the 

 plain, have their own peculiar temperature, vegetation, and soil, they 

 have also particular groups of animals attached to them ; and if we look 

 more closely, we shall find that particular families and genera are al- 

 ways to be met with in certain strata and soils, evincing-, as it were, a 

 partiality and adaptation, by frequenting and thriving in them. 



It may here be worth while to specify some of the genera of Insects attend- 

 ant on the difierence of soil. It is in the sandy districts of our own country 

 that the few species of Cicindela, peculiar to our island, occur. Cicin- 

 dela maritima, however, prefers the vicinity of the sea-shore, while seve- 

 ral Oriental species, remarkable for their beauty and colouring, delight 

 more in the alluvial soil of rivers Frequenting the sandy heath are 

 found the splendid Chlorion, the fetid Sphex, and restless Amraophilus, 

 associated with numerous species of Andrena and Nomada. In the sand, 

 washed from the mountain height, at the sources of our European rivers, 

 some species of Nebria and Psammodius are exceedingly abundant. If 

 we visit the parched and burning sands of Africa, we there meet with the 

 rapacious Anthia, the desert-loving Graphiptera, the burrowing Scarites, 

 and countless species of Heteromera and Tetramera. In the same soil 

 also, on the banks of rivers, the genera Epaphius and Trechus, Clivina 

 and Dyschirius, are not unfrequent. On the sand of the sea-shore^ 

 Broschus, Bradytus, Pedinus, and ^gialia, occur in extraordinary num- 

 bers ; and where it is habitually covered with salt water at the departure 

 of the tide, we capture Cillenura, Pogonus, Hesperophilus, and Hetero- 

 cerus, the singularly-formed Bledius, and wonderfully-abundant Ophonus 



