COLEOPTERA. ELATERIDiE. 239 



Elater fulvipennis Hoffm., closely resembling that of El. obscurus 

 Marsh. ; the larva of El. sanguineus is also stated by him to re- 

 semble that of El. fulvipennis. The same author has also described 

 the larvae of El. fulvipes Gyll. (obscurus Fab.) ; niger Linn., (aterri- 

 mus Fab.); and lineatus Linn., (segetis Gyll.); the first differs 

 from the larvse of El. fulvipennis in having the terminal segment 

 nearly square, with the posterior angles rounded, and the apical 

 mucro larger; the second has the terminal segment rounded, the 

 sides entire, with a terminal circular excision within the lateral 

 margins ; on each side is a series of four small tubercles. The de- 

 scription given of the third does not agree with Marsham's description 

 of the larva of El. obscurus ; the terminal segment being flattened, 

 with the lateral margins uneven, and a small apical circular excision. 



Goedart has figured the larva and imago of an insect of this family 

 in his table 108. 



The larva of Elater noctilucus is very destructive in the West 

 Indies to the sugar cane, feeding, according to Humboldt and Bon- 

 pland, upon the roots, and destroying the plants. Mr. Guilding 

 (^Transactions Soc. Arts), however, thinks that the damage done to 

 these plants is, in a great measure, owing to other insects, as the 

 Calandra saccharivora. 



The large larva, hitherto regarded as that of Anthia 6-guttata, 

 appears to be rather that of a large Indian species of this family 

 (See ante, p. 68 note *.). 



Mr. Dale {Mag. Nat. Hist. No, xix.) has recorded the capture of 

 Elater sanguineus, and its larva and pupa on rotten oak stumps. 



The distribution of this family into generic subdivisions has been 

 but little, and only recently, investigated ; a few of the more remark- 

 able forms, it is true, had been established as genera; but until 1829, 

 when the late Dr. Eschscholtz published a sketch of the family in Dr. 

 Thon's Entomologisches Archives, vol. ii. (wherein many new groups 

 are proposed, the total number being augmented to thirty-seven), the 

 great majority of these insects were arranged under the generic name of 

 Elater. At the end of 1830, Mr. Stephens, being unacquainted with 

 Eschscholtz's Memoir, described the British species, amongst which 

 he established several new genera, corresponding, in some respects, 

 with those of Eschscholtz, who, previous to his decease, revised his 

 former Memoir, and added twenty more genera in his manuscripts, 

 which, subsequent to his death, were again revised by Latreille, and 



