COI.EOPTEUA. ELATERIDit:. 241 



A remarkable monstrosity occurring ina specimen of Agrjpniis 

 murinus is described in the Mag. Nat, Hist. No. xxi. in which one 

 of the antennae consists of two 9-jointed divisions, arising from a 

 2-jointed base. 



Amongst the exotic genera, Pachyderes Guer. is distinguished by 

 the great size of tlie thorax, which is twice as broad as the elytra, 

 with the posterior angles acute. Tetralobus and Hemirhipus are 

 composed of species of a large size, with the antennae short and 

 strongly pectinated in the males. The Semioti Esch, (Eucamptus 

 Chevr. Pericallus Scriu and St. F.y are handsome species, chiefly 

 from Brazil, with the elytra spined at the tips ; and the species 

 composing the genus Alaus are distinguished by a pair of large black 

 eyelike spots upon the thorax ; but the most remarkable species in the 

 family are some recently received from the Swan River by the Rev. F. 

 W. Hope, who has published a description and figure of them in the 

 Trans. EntomoL Soc. vol. i., under the generic name of Macromalo- 

 cera, and in which the antennae are as long as the entire body. He 

 has more recently received the female of this genus, in which the 

 antennae are exceedingly short. In the second volume of the same 

 Transactions he has figured two interesting species found in gum 

 anime, which seem to be identical with two species figured by Dr. 

 Klug, from Madagascar, and the same remark may also be made 

 respecting a species of Tillus. The genus Pyrophorus llliger, receives 

 its name from the luminous powers of the insects of which it is com- 

 posed, and of which this author has described sixteen (in the first 

 volume of Der Gesellschaft Naturf. Freimde Berlin Mag. 1807); 

 Dejean, however, enumerates twenty- eight, chiefly from South 

 America, including the type El. noctilucus Linn. This species is 

 upwards of an inch long, of an obscure brown colour, with an oval spot 

 of a dull yellow colour near each posterior angle of the thorax. These 

 spots emit so strong a light during the night (that being the period 

 when they are in motion, reposing by day, when they are but seldom 

 observed), that it is easy to read the smallest writing by placing 

 several under a glass, or by moving a single insect along the lines. 

 They are termed by the natives Cucuyos or Coyouyou, and by the 

 Spaniards Cucujo, and, according to Bondaroy, Marechal. When the 

 insect is on the wing two additional luminous patches are observed 

 beneath the elytra ; the light, indeed, shining out from beneath the 

 abdominal segments when stretched out. It is said, that they are 



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