206 Carabid^ INSECTS. Hydradephaga. 
narrow thorax, and reddish legs. The grub is consider- 
ably magnified, and must be a very ferocious fellow to 
any poor insect getting into its arms or jaws. It has 
five eyes grouped behind the antennae. Its maxillary 
palpi are spined. The fore legs have four spines on 
each shoulder. Its pupa has a pale, bright, testaceous, 
depressed body, with two sets of fleshy tufts on each 
side of the segment behind the head. The perfect 
insects were found by M. Auguste Salld, under bushes 
deeply sunk in sandy ground, on the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi near New Orleans. Our friend, who described 
and figured them,* found the insect in all its stages 
from July to October. The larva constructs a feeble 
cocoon with thread and earth, in which to undergo its 
transformations. 
The Carabidse are generally very abundant in gardens 
and fields, running among grass or concealed under 
clods of earth or small stones. Some, such as the 
brilliant Pcecilus and Amara, run actively about in the 
sunshine, and are called “ Sunshiners” from this habit. 
Generally, however, it is at night that they are on the 
alert. They are a very useful group of beetles, helping 
to keep down many noxious larvae of other insects, 
which, but for the Carabidae, might extend to an alarm- 
ing degree. In this country, at least in its southern 
parts, a tree-frequenting species is found, called Calo- 
somn inquisitor. On the continent of Europe a large, 
brilliant, metallic-tinted species of the same genus, called 
Galosoma sycophanta, is not uncommon. This fine 
beetle passes its life on trees, feeding chiefly on cater 
pillars. The ravages committed by some of the cater- 
pillars of the family Bombycidae are in many places 
much restrained by the Galosoma, which deposits its 
eggs in the nests of the moths, so that the voracious 
Carabidae from their infancy begin to reduce the num- 
bers of the noxious moths. 
It has been noticed in France that in those parts 
where the Carabus auratus is abundant, the Cockchafer 
is almost unknown. The Cockchafer is a very destruc- 
tive insect, especially where it abounds, as tlie grub 
feeds on the roots of grass, continuing in that state for 
some years. This fine Carabus seizes the dialer before 
it has deposited its eggs, and it is said to be fonder of 
the eggs than of any other part of the insect. 
The finest Carabi are found in China and Siberia. 
In North China is the noble green, warted, or nippled 
Carabus ccelestis, and the great blue- black C. Lafossei; 
in South China, the great Carabus pirodigus, with its 
elytra cut out at the end. How fine, too, are the 
Siberian Carabi — also the exquisite Carabus Vietmg- 
hovii, black, exquisitely roughened, and the elytra and 
thorax encircled by the most lovely narrow girdle of 
green, passing into bronze and fiery red. Near it is the 
beautiful Carabus Bowringianus from Japan or Chow- 
san, named after my friend J. C. Bowring, Esq. 
The Carabi from Chili and the extreme south of 
Terra del Fuego are very fine also. 
Our little Dyschirius, one of the Scaritidse, shakes its 
prey like a dog worrying a rat ; and the larger species 
allied to it seem to have the same babit, for Mr. Adams 
records the manners of one which he observed abun- 
* Aimales de la Soc. Ent. France, second series, vol. vii., 
p. 299 (1849) ; Plate 8, fig. 2. 
dant on the shores of the Corean archipelago. “ When 
approached it burrows rapidly in the sand, bites very 
severely, and makes vigorous efforts to escape. It is 
a most predaceous creature, feeding greedily on the 
Talitri, Gammari, and other small Crustacea which 
abound in these places.” 
“ One very dark and warm night, in the early part 
of the present month I observed a considerable quantity 
of some brightly luminous matter on a gravel path 
in my garden. On a closer inspection I found that 
this consisted of many small detached patches, among 
which some animal was moving at a rapid pace, carry- 
ing with him alarge quantity of the same luminous matter, 
and every now and then depositing a fresh patch. My 
curiosity was much excitedbysucha remarkable proceed- 
ing ; I procured a light as quickly as possible, and dis- 
covered, to my surprise, that all this illumination had 
been the work of a Nebria brevicollis, who was literally 
detected flagrante delicto. I have often before this 
seen a strong phosphorescent light produced by vari- 
ous species, such as worms, centipedes, and the small 
white animals allied, I believe, to the Oniscid8e, so 
common in decaying vegetable substances ; but this is 
the first instance I have met with of a coleopterous 
insect depositing any luminous matter on the ground. 
I can form no conjecture as to the cause of its proceed- 
ings, unless the light was intended for a sexual signal.” 
The Aepus rnarinus and A. Robinii are found in 
places where at times tliey are covered by the sea. 
So is the curious Madeiran genus Thalassophilus, 
described and figured in the “ Coleoptera Maderensia ” 
of Mr. Wollaston. 
Group— HYDRADEPHAGA {The Water Beetles). 
In this group the beetles are all aquatic, and have 
legs peculiarly formed for swimming. The two hind 
pairs are flattened like an oar, and are ciliated or 
fringed with hairs; the hind pairs being placed at a 
considerable distance from the others, whereby a much 
greater impulse is given to the animal in its motions 
through the dense element of which it is an inhabitant. 
Their bodies are more or less or’al, the best shape 
for water, and they are convex beneath, somewhat like 
a boat, and generally smooth above. They swim 
rapidly, occasionally coming to the surface, when 
they keep the feet motionless, “the body ascending, 
being specifically lighter than water. In this situation 
they rest obliquely, the extremity of the body being 
protruded out of the water, whereby the air is enabled 
to enter the large space beneath the elytra, and reach 
the spiracles along the sides of the back.” 
The Water-beetles, of which at least five hundred 
and fifty species are known, are scattered over the 
whole world, and are divided by Lacordaire into the 
following six sections : — 
I. Posterior coxse not widened in front. 
a Prosternum received into a hollow of the inesosternuin. 
This tribe is formed by a North American insect 
(Amphizoa insolens], found in the valley of the 
Sacramento. It seems to be a link connecting this 
group with the Geodephaga. 
