99 



secting a fresh specimen, I had occasion to press the body, 

 which is very hard, upon the table, and all at once the 

 lingua jutted out, making a proboscis or tongue much longer 

 than the antennae. The object is so minute that I cannot be 

 positive, but I believe I can discover at the end of the tongue 

 two little palpi of two joints. The maxillary ones are very 

 long and distinct, thus: -=*=-=>- 



I have since pressed several in the same man- * 



^__f -^^ 



ner, and obtained the same result. These insects 

 are found in damp places, under stones, etc. Do 

 you know anything of them ? 



I had an opportunity this season to dissect my 

 447 [" Elodes discoideus Say," Hentz MSS. CataL], 

 which I think I have sent you, and I became cer- 

 tain that it was an Elodes. The labial palpi are 

 "forked," that is to say, the third joint is inserted in the 

 middle of the second, as in Fig. 17, the maxillary ones are 

 thus: -^=3ocz> and the mandibles as in Fig. 18 ; the penul- 

 timate joint of the tarsi is bilobed. 



The antennae and feet of this insect fall off so easily that 

 it is difficult to have a complete specimen. 



HAERIS TO HENTZ. 



CAMBRIDGE, April 24, 1837. 



I add, for the want of something better, a little table of the 

 genera of North American species of Elateridw. The charac- 

 ters of these genera I have not seen in any publication, and you 

 must trust them only so far as I can give them, after a careful 

 study of the species themselves, and a comparison of many of 

 them with the foreign types. 



