ELATEll. 
85 
Many species of Elater are natives of onr own 
country; but they are rarely distinguished by any 
brilliancy of colour, and are far inferior in size to 
any of the exotic ones above-mentioned. One of the 
largest is the Elater Jer'rugineus, measuring about 
three cpiarters of an inch, and as its name imports, 
of a ferruginous or reddish-brown colour; but the 
hind part of the thorax is bordered with black: it 
is found in fields, among grass, in the month of 
June. 
The Elater sanguineus is considerably smaller, 
and is distinguished by its bright-red wing-slieaths, 
the body and thorax being black: it is found in 
similar situations with the preceding. 
Elater tesselatus is of the size of ferrugineus, 
and is brown, with a slight coppery tinge, and 
scattered over with fine ash-coloured pile, in such 
n manner as to appear tesselated or marked into 
minute squarish divisions: it is not uncommon in 
fields during the middle of summer. The larvae 
of these insects are of a slender form, and devour 
the roots of the grasses, &c. That destructive in- 
sect known by the name of the wire-worm is said 
to be the larva of the Elater ohscurus. 
