GEODEPHAGA. 
69 
into operation the drum and cone of the late Admiral 
Fitzroy) exude a peculiar acrid fluid when handled ; a 
strong-smelling habit, common (though in a less dis- 
agreeable degree) to most of the Geodepliaga, and 
intended doubtless to be a weapon both of defence and 
offence : the secretion is probably owing, also, to the 
constantly carnivorous propensities of the beetles in 
question. 
To the tribe Anchomenina belong the “ Cellar- 
beetles,” — not the lazy, foul-smelling Blaps, which 
will be mentioned in the section Heteromera, — active, 
black insects of the genera Sphodrus and Pristonychus ; 
the former having its hind trochanters prolonged in 
the male into a spike. 
The Anchomeni — mostly gregarious, small, and of 
elegant shape — frequent very wet spots, abounding at 
the roots of old willows, &c., near watercourses. One 
of them, A. sexpunctatus, is found in boggy places on 
heaths, sometimes being plentiful on Wimbledon 
Common ; it is about a quarter of an inch long, with its 
head and thorax very bright green, and wing-cases 
coppery-red with gi’een margins (Plate II., Fig. 2). It 
is a most brilliant creature, and darts about in the hot 
sunshine over the wet peat, looking like a live coal. 
A great contrast to this elegant insect is afforded 
by the heavy liippopotamoid Zabrus gibbus, whose 
broad, convex, black carcase may sometimes (es- 
pecially near Brighton and Croydon) be found trodden 
on, in the paths of cornfields. It has been accused of 
devouring wheat, owing in all probability to its having 
been seen on or near that plant, where its instinct 
leads it to pursue vegetable-feeding insects. 
The species of Pterostichus are for the most part 
