304 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
force to the cocoon. This use of this portion of the pupa-case 
is by no means confined to Cerura, but is common to many 
moths that have to break through cocoons or out of the ground. 
It has, however, nothing to do with the actual distribution of the 
fluid, so far as my observations were decisive. I made one other 
observation that added a new point to be explained, viz., that 
when the moth emerged it often brought with it pieces of very 
delicate tissue that I passed over at first as being portions of the 
inner divisions of the pupa-case; they proved, however, to be bits 
of the inner lining of the cocoon. The wall of a sound cocoon 
appears to be homogeneous; but in a cocoon where I stopped the 
moth before breaking it open, but after softening it, this inner 
layer of very fine membrane is quite visible. I could not help 
framing several theories as to this, but as I know no more than I 
have stated, the theories may for the present remain in abeyance.* 
Firbank, Hereford, Oct., 1892. 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ELATER. 
By Rey. H. 8. Gorsam, F.Z.8., &e. 
HLATER MINIATUS, N. sp. 
Elater pomone, Waterh., Trans. Ent. Soc. v., n.s., p. 903 _ 
Rye, Ent. Mo. Mag. ix. p. 268; Ent. Ann. 1874, p. 97. 
Elater pomone, Candeze, Mon. Elat. ii. p. 455; Seidlitz, 
Faun. balt. p. 119; nec Stephens, Mand. ii. p. 257; Man. 
Brit. Col.p. 179. 
Ater, nigro-pilosus, elytris coccineis, prothorace nitido minus dense 
punctulato, basi transversim impresso, supra scutellum foveolato, antrorsum 
angustato, tarsis rufis. Long. 9—10 millim. 
This is the species generally known to us as “ Hlater 
pomone,” and apparently regarded as such by Candeze, Seidlitz, 
and others, perhaps on the authority of Mr. G. R. Waterhouse ; 
but Mr. EK. C. Rye, now nearly twenty years ago, pointed out the 
discrepancies between Stephens’ description in the ‘ Manual of 
British Coleoptera’ and the specimen regarded by Waterhouse 
as its exponent in Stephens’ collection. There was, however, it 
should have been observed, a specimen in the same collection, 
and under the name “ pomone,”’ which perfectly accords with 
* T do not know that my observations confirm or otherwise Mr. Latter’s 
discovery that the softening fluid contains hydrate of potassa; but the taste- 
lessness of the fluid, the trifling residue on its evaporation, so that a drop on 
a glass-slide left barely sufficient trace to show where it had been, and more 
particularly the rapidity with which it evaporated to absolute dryness (potash 
hydrate being deliquescent), appears to point to the necessity for further 
research on this as on other parts of the subject.—T. A. C., Nov. 15. 
