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NATURAL HISTORY 03? 
ready to seize any unwary insect that comes within 
reach ; sometimes it makes a sudden dart if the ob- 
ject is at some distance, and immediately retreats 
to the interior of its den. Their voracity is not 
satisfied with other insects, but extends to their own 
species ; and when two individuals form their holes 
in the immediate neighbourhood of each other, the 
stronger devours the weaker, that there may be no 
interference with his own pursuits. When about 
to change their skins or be converted into nymphs, 
they retire to the bottom of their holes, having pre- 
viously sealed up the entrance. 
The perfect insects are found in the spring and 
summer months, usually in sandy fields exposed to 
the sun. They seem rather partial to heaths, and 
certain kinds are found only in the vicinity of the 
sea. 
In its present restricted form the genus contains 
upwards of 200 species, only six or seven of which 
occur in Britain. The most common throughout 
the northern parts of Europe is C. campestris , one 
of the most beautiful of our indigenous insects. It 
is of a fine green colour, glossed with coppery-red, 
and having five yellowish spots on the margin of 
each elytron, and another towards the middle. It 
is distributed over the whole island, but is rather 
local in Scotland. 
A beautiful species representing this genus is the 
