1 
I 
ELATER. ELATER. 
Generic Character. 
Antenna; setaceae. 
Corpus elongatum, dorso 
impositum exiliens mu- 
crone pectoris e foramine 
abdominis resiliente. 
Antennae setaceous. 
Bodp oblong, when placed 
on the back, springing 
up, by means of the pec- 
toral spine starting from 
the abdominal foramen. 
TTh E leading character in this genus is a strong 
spine situated beneath the thorax, and so consti- 
tuted by Nature as to fit at pleasure, into a small 
cavity on the upper part of the abdomen; thus 
enabling the insect, when laid on its back, to 
spring up with great force, in order to regain its 
proper position. 
This genus is pretty extensive, but few of the 
European species are comparable in point of size 
to those which are natives of the tropical regions. 
Among the most remarkable of these may be 
numbered the Elater JlabeUicornis, an insect mea- 
suring not less than two inches and a half in 
length, and which differs from the rest in having 
very strongly pectinated anteniue, the divisions 
of which, forming a kind of fan on the upper part 
of each, are nearly a quarter of an inch long: the 
