260 
HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 
Fig. 196. 
Tiger Beetle, 
Among the insects adapted by their peculiar style of col¬ 
oration to live on the sand or soil are the tiger beetles. 
They are most commonly seen running over sands by the 
river or on the warm, light colored soil of wood or forest 
paths. The Cicindela generosa (Fig. 196) is 
ornamented more conspicuously than usual 
with broad light bands and spots. It is 
found on the white sands of Cape Cod and the 
beaches southward. But a more decided case 
of protective mimicry is the white-backed tiger 
beetle ( Cicindela dorsalis). Here the wing- 
covers and front of the head (clypeus) are 
white, while the back part of the head and 
the prothorax are dark, so that as the beetle 
■ lies on the white sand in wait for its prey, it 
would be easily mistaken for a hole or dark 
spot or pebble. On the other hand the bright green six- 
spotted Cicindela ( C. sex-guttata) is adapted for its life in 
the grass in which it runs and flies, and in its flight would 
be mistaken by its enemies or victims for a large green fly 
(Musca vomitoria). 
“The beautiful Cicindela gloriosa , of a very deep velvety 
green color, was only taken upon w r et mossy stones in the 
bed of a mountain stream, where it was with the greatest 
difficulty detected. A large brown species ( C . lieros) was 
found chiefly on dead leaves on forest paths ; and one which 
was never seen except on the wet mud of salt marshes was 
of a glossy olive so exactly the color of the mud as only to 
be distinguished when the sun shone, by its shadow ! Where 
the sandy beach was coralline and nearly white, I found a 
very pale Cicindela; wherever it was volcanic and black, 
a dark species of the same genus was sure to be met with.” 
(Wallace.) 
The black or reddish ants are protected from observation 
by their dark colors in climbing the trunks of trees, while 
4 
