470 REVISION OF THE ELATERID^E 



the disc is distinctly channelled posteriorly: the elytra are very slightly narrowed from th< 

 base: the third joint of the antennae is very different in form, being as long as the fourth, 

 though but slightly dilated. 



20. E. collar is, ater, nitidus, brunneo-pubescens, thorace sanguineo, latitudine non longiore, a 

 medio antrorsura angustato, sat dense punctato, postice obsolete canaliculato, prostemo nigro, ely- 

 tris parallelis, griseo-pubescentibus, striis profundis punctatis, interstitiis subconvexis disperse punc- 

 tatis, antennis articulis 2 et 3 subrcqualibus, 4 10 coniunctis longioribus. Long. "33. 



Say, Annals of the Lyceum of Nat. Hist. New York, 1, 268. 



Elatcr tlioracicus J Herbst, Kiifer, 10, 51, tab. 1G2, fig. 8. 



Ampedus collaris Germ. Zeitscbr. 5, 172. 



Middle and Southern States. Herbst seems to have confounded this species with a Eu- 

 ropean Elater thoracicus Fubr. which is now placed in Cardiophorus. There are some 

 naturalists who, finding that the species of the two authors fall into different genera, would 

 retain both; a piece of deference to ancient authorities which can be shown only at the 

 expense of good scientific morals, since it opens the way to carelessness. The only method 

 of preserving nomenclature from even greater confusion than that in which it is already 

 plunged, is to exclude decidedly, and without hesitation, every name founded upon error 

 or misinterpretation of preceding authors. Dr. Harris thinks that the E. collaris is a spe- 

 cies of Cratonychus, but as Say does not mention the serration of the ungues, it is safer 

 to consider the present species, which agrees perfectly with his description, as really the 

 one intended. In his remarks, (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. G, 174,) Say places E. collaris among 

 the species with simple ungues, and it is hardly probable that, after his attention was turned 

 to that character, he would have made an error in grouping the species. 



30. E. rubricus, ater nitidus, longius helvo-pubescens, thorace a medio antrorsum angustato, 

 nigro, basi late lateribusque sanguineo, punctato, elytris parallelis, striis profunde punctatis, interstitiis 

 paulo convexis punctatis, pcdibus piceo-testaceis, antennis basi testaceis, articulo 3 io 2 ndo paulo 

 longiore. Long. '31 — - 34. 



Say, Annals of Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York, 1, 201. 



Middle and Eastern States. This species seems to resemble very much Ampedus con- 

 cinnus Germ. (Zeitschr. 5, 170,) but the thorax is too strongly punctured, and the third 

 joint of the antennae is not twice as long as the second: in none of the specimens seen by 

 me does the black spot of the thorax reach the base. In a specimen from Vermont, the 

 thorax seems to be narrowed from the base, but as the form is not symmetrical, it must 

 be considered as a distortion. The presternum is always black; the under surface of the 

 thorax is sometimes entirely red, sometimes almost black. In the male the last joint of 

 the antenna? is slightly acuminate; in the female it is rounded. 



31. E. obliquus, supra fusco-nigcr, longius cincrco-pubescens, thorace subtransverso, parcius 

 punctulato, antice rotundatim angustato, margine omni tcstaceo, elytris subcuneatis, macula obliqua 

 basali versus suturam latiore lutea, striis profunde punctatis, interstitiis parce punctatis, subtus rufes- 

 cens, pectore infuscato, antennis fusco-tcstaceis, articulo 3'° angusto 4 tu longitudine EBquali. Long. 

 •20— -23. 



Say, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. G, 174. 

 Ampedus seitulus Germ. Zeitschr. 5, 168. 



