242 An}ials Entomological Society of America [Vol. X, 



Forest Insect Investigation, for the use of their very valuable 

 material. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Adam Boving, of the 

 same Division, who gave invaluable assistance in homologizing 

 the sclerites in several genera, and who helped in countless other 

 ways, both with material from Europe and his broad knowledge 

 of Coleopterous larvae. 



The principal works consulted were: Schiodte' (IS(-)l-(U)), 

 Perris- (1852-1863), Candezc'^ (18(31), Henriksen^ (1911), and 

 Gahan^ (1911), and also the principal works on classification 

 of the adult beetles. 



Before proceeding with the classification of the Elateridae 

 as we now understand this family, I will briefly discuss the older 

 group Sternoxes of Latereille'' (1802). This is still recognized 

 by such renowned authorities as Kolbe (1901) and Gahan (1911) 

 to be a natural super-group. Lacordaire^ (1857) subdivided 

 this group into six families, the Elaterides, Cerophytidcs, 

 Cebrionides, Eucnemides, Throscides and Buprestides, which 

 with but few changes, have stood to the present time. Drs. 

 Leconte and Horn (1883) in their classification reduced the 

 Cerophytidae, Cebrionidas and EucnemidcE to subfamilies, 

 erecting an additional subfamily, the Perothopinae, to include 

 the genus Perothops formerly included in the Eucnemidae, but 

 rejected from that family by de Bonvoluoir in his Monograph. 

 This last author retained the Cerophyidae in the Eucnemidae, 

 but Leconte and Horn believed that it should represent a 

 subfamily connecting the Eucnemidas with the Dascyllidae. 

 Kolbe (1901) re-established these families, adding the Dicrony- 

 chid^ which is considered by Gahan (1911) to be very closely 

 related to the Plastoceridae of the more recent authors and which 

 I reduce to subfamily rank. The classification herein proposed 

 agrees with that of Kolbe^ (1901) in elevating the Leconte and 

 Horn subfamilies to family rank, but would indicate the relation- 

 ship of these families by establishing a superfamily Elateroidea. 



' Metamorphosi Eleutheratorum Observationees, 1861-69. Classification of 

 the Buprestidae and Elateridae (Natur. Hist. Tidssk., vSer. 3, Vol. Ill, Copen- 

 hagen, 1865. 



- Histoire des Insects du Pin Maritime (Ann. Soc. Ent. France), 1852-63. 



^ Histoire des Metamorphoses de quelques Coleopteres Exotiques, Liege, 1861. 



•• Oversight over de danske Elateridae-larvae (Entomologie Meddelelser, 

 part 2, Vol. IV, 1911. 



* Classification of the Coleoptera (The Entomologist, Vol. XLIV), 1911. 



6 Hist. Nat. etc. Tome III, p. 99, 1802. 



' Hist. Nat. des Ins. Col. IV, p. 1-246, 1857. 



« Arch, fur Naturg. 1901, p. 39. 



