THE ENTOMOLOGIST IN THE FOREST 95
this vast group which occur in the Forest. Beetles
are found in every conceivable situation; some
live under leaves and rubbish, and are nocturnal
in their habits, as, for instance, the Geodephaga
or Ground-beetles, and many of the Brachelytra,
or "Cock-tail" beetles, to which group the
common "Devil's Coach-horse" (Ocypus olens)
belongs. Many occur in the open, like the
brilliant but ferocious Tiger Beetle (Cicindela
campestris), which may be seen on hot days darting
on the wing with amazing rapidity in search of
insect prey in the heathy ground near High Beach
and Theydon. The tubular burrows of the larvae
may be seen in sandy pathways and banks. In
these the inmate, a veritable British Ant-lion,
awaits near the entrance the casual visit of some
small insect, which is at once seized in the
formidable jaws, with never a chance of retreat
allowed. Another interesting predacious beetle
is the somewhat local Calosoma inquisitor: this
devours the caterpillars on trees, and it used to be
quite common on the pollarded hornbeams in the
forest near Woodford.
There are many families of Water-beetles
(Hydradephaga), Plant-beetles (Phytophaga), con-
taining some of the most brilliantly coloured of the
order, and Lamellicornia to which the Rose-beetle
(Cetonia aurata) and the great Stag-beetle (Lucanus
cervus) belong. Another Stag-beetle, much smaller,
but with a longer name (Dorcus parallelopipedus),
is not unfrequently observed. To this group
belong also the Geotrupidae or Dung-beetles
(Shakespeare's " Shard-borne beetles "), of which
several species frequent the Forest, and whose
amazing engineering feats in sinking deep cylin-
drical shafts in the solid soil for the reception of
the nidus of dung in which the egg is placed,
always command admiration.
A pretty weevil, Rhynchites betuleti, may be
selected out of the vast array of the Rhynchophorae
or " Snout beetles " because of its curious habit of
partially shearing off portions of the birch leaves,
then rolling the pieces up like cigarettes; these are