99 



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

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

 lingua jutted out, making a proboscis or tongue much longer 

 than the antenna. 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 maxillaiy ones are very 

 long and distinct, thus: -=»=.-.=>- 



I have since pressed several in the same man- ^ 



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 

 417 ["-E'/oJes discoideus Say," Hentz mss. Catal.], / 

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

 tain that it was an Elodes. The labial jialpi 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: -=5=00=15 and the mandibles as in Fig. 18 ; the penul- 

 timate joint of the tarsi is bilobed. 



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

 it is difficult to have a complete specimen. 



HAEEIS 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 Elatei'idce. 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. 



