132 
HABITS OF THE ADEPHAGA. 
quently in these 44 glances” at the habits of the Adephaga , I have thought i 
desirable to give information and details which, although by no means new, are 
still calculated to be useful to the beginner. Having premised thus far, lest it 
should be thought I desired credit for originality in these present articles, I pro¬ 
ceed with the resume. 
In the paper on the classification of the Adephaga (Vol. IV., p. 73, &c.) the 
tribe Carabacea , R., is stated to contain six families : these it will be necessary 
to notice successively. 
1. Cieindelidce . The term Cicindela is derived from ms and candeo —a deriva¬ 
tion thus quaintly noticed in some lines by Antonius Bonsentinus, which 
Mouffet styes 44 elegant”— 
“ May be this Worm from shining in the night. 
Borrow’d its name—‘ shining like candle bright.’ ” 
Pliny says of Cicindela ,— 44 Rustici stellantes volatos , Grceci Lampridas vocant.” 
It is evident, therefore, both from the derivation and Pliny’s remarks, that the 
insects originally designated Cicindelce were the Glow-worms, and not the pretty 
sparkling Beetles to which that appellation is now given. The older entomolo¬ 
gists retained the correct application of Cicindela , and Cowper’s poem “Ad 
Cicindelam has reference to the Glow-worm. The name Cicindela was first 
improperly given to the Beetles under consideration by the great father of modern 
nomenclature— Linnaeus, who committed many similar errors. Thus Mr. West- 
wood remarks that 44 many of the Linnsean generic names are destitute of any 
direct application to the insects which such genera contained, this author having 
employed the old Natural-History names, which he met with in the early 
authors, in the most senseless manner. Indeed this could not be avoided in many 
instances, from the vague manner in which the names had been employed; and 
hence Linnaeus, anxious to enlist them all again into the service of Natural 
History, hesitated not to employ them for objects which probably had not the 
least connection with those to which they had been applied by the ancients.’* 
The case under consideration is one of the worst, as the meaning of the term, as 
used by the ancients, is very obvious. To the confusion caused by Linnaeus, 
Geoffroy added his mite, by designating the Telepkori , Cicindelce .* Modern 
naturalists have, however, adopted the Linnsean name; the Tiger-beetles are 
now denominated by the term formerly applied to the Glow-worm, and the latter 
insect is called Campyr is, after the Greeks. Objectionable as this is, the 
alteration of it would be even more so, as tending to 44 make confusion worse 
confounded.” * 
* Geoffroy, as a reason for the above alteration in the name of Telephones, states that 
Cicindela “ was formerly that of a genus approaching to the Glow-worm, and perhaps of this same 
genus ( Telephones ) to which we now restore it!” 
