The Cicindelse are carnivorous, living entirely upon other insects 
both in their larva and perfect states, which caused Linnseus to ap- 
ply to them the term of insect tigers. The history and economy 
of the larvae are related in a very interesting manner by Geolfroy, 
by Latreille in his Histoire Naturelle , and in the Introduction to 
Entomology ; and a figure of one is given in the 1 7th Plate. These 
chilopodiform larvae have a very,large flat head, with "6 or 8 eyes; 
they are furnished with strong falcate mandibles similar to those of 
the perfect insects, and also with a labrum, maxillae, 6 very short 
palpi, and a mentum; they have palpiform antennae; the thoracic 
shield is large; and they are supplied with 6 feet, and an anal 
proleg ; the tarsi are biarticulate, and terminated by 1 or 2 claws ; 
the abdomen is fleshy, with 2 tubercles on the back, each producing 
a recurved hook, which are said to assist it in ascending, and probably 
descending its burrow, and may by being brought in contact with 
the head enable it to hold its prey. They live in sandy situations, 
and may be found from the beginning of April to the commence- 
ment of autumn, and are easily taken by introducing a straw into 
their burrows, by which means the extent of their habitations may 
be traced, sometimes descending to the depth of 18 inches. Our 
larva, like the ant-lion ( Myrmeleon formicarius ), lies in wait to entrap 
and devour any small insect that may pass over the mouth of his 
burrow, where he watches, his head exactly fitting the orifice. 
The perfect insects delight in the sunshine, when they are ex- 
cessively active, and fly short distances with perfect ease, and are 
rendered difficult to capture from their not suffering any one to 
approach sufficiently near to secure them before they again take 
wing : they prefer sandy and generally dry situations, some living 
in arid wastes and banks, others on sand-hills near the sea shore, 
one only of our species inhabiting the sides of running brooks and 
moist places. 
The Cicindelidae being the most perfect in their organization, 
Latreille has been induced to depart from the systems of Linnaeus 
and Fabricius, who commenced with the Scarabseidae, and to place 
that family at the beginning of his arrangement, in which he is 
followed by all the naturalists of the present day. 
Our genus, and the whole family to which it belongs, differ from 
all the Carabidae in having a moveable claw at the apex of the 
maxillae, in the proportions of the tooth of the mentum, in the 
great length of the labial palpi, occasioned by the remarkable ex- 
tension of the penultimate joint, by the perfect and free motion of 
the scape or basal joint a , and by the minuteness of the lip. 
a The scapes to which the labial palpi are attached being completely developed and 
moveable, they are usually described as 4-jointed ; the same part is found in the Carabidae 
in a modified form, but is generally absorbed in the other families. It ought to be ob- 
served also that the internal maxillary palpus, which is perfectly developed in the Ade- 
phagi, becomes modified in the other sections, and is then described as the external lobe 
of the maxilla. 
