NOTES UPON THE FOOD OF PREDACEOUS BEETLES.* 
By F. M. Webster. 
Pliny thought it nothing to the credit of the philoso- 
phers of his day, that while they were disputing about 
the number of heroes by the name of Hercules, and the 
site of the sepulcher of Bacchus, they should not have 
been able to decide whether or not the queen bee pos- 
sessed a sting . * 1 
While the problem of the bee sting has long been de- 
cided, and heroes by the name of Hercules have ceased to 
trouble the minds of men, there are problems of vital im- 
portance regarding the habits of the insects which, dur- 
ing the greater portion of the year, we meet daily in 
abundance, that still remain unsolved. 
The most important as well as the most abundant of 
these insects are the beetles. 
While found in almost every conceivable situation, 
while our naturalists count the species in their cabinets 
by the thousands, it would be difficult to point out a 
single species, the food habits of which we fully under- 
stand, when both the larvae and imago state are taken 
under consideration. 
True, we have a sort of ritual laid down by entomolo- 
gists, based upon the fact that certain species have been 
known to feed upon certain substances, but this can no 
more be considered as proof that nothing else entefr; into 
their natural diet, than does the meat of which we may 
partake at dinner prove us to be strictly carnivorous, or 
the bread or fruit, that we are exclusively vegetarians. 
An illustration of this double diet of beetles is found in 
the case of the European Silpha opaca, Linn., the larva 
of which has been known to feed to an injurious extent 
upon the leaves of the beet and mangel-wurzel . 2 
But one of the most fortunate in getting the benefit of 
our ignorance is the family Carabidac, to utter a word 
against which is almost considered a sacrilege. 
* Although this paper does not belong with the studies made at the 
Laboratory, but is based entirely upon the author’s personal observations, 
it is included with this series, with his permission, because it relates to 
the same subject. These observations precede, in point of time, those of 
the following paper. — S. A. F. 
1 Pliny, Hist. Nat., 1. xi, c. 17. 
2 Curtis, “Farm Insects,” p. 388. 
