78 



Notes on the Genus Elater (Ampedus). 



By 



B. G. Rye. 



In the latest catalogue of Mess""" Heyden, Reitter 

 and Weise, the number of species of the North European 

 red Elaters has been considerably reduced, and consequently 

 the number of synonyms increased; the reason for this is 

 caused undoubtedly by the exceedingly poor descriptions of 

 the original authors, and also in many cases, by authors 

 describing new species without first having compared their 

 specimens with the then existing types. 



Having a great interest in this genus and also having 

 had the opportunity of seeing and comparing the ori- 

 ginal type specimens of a great many of the species, I 

 venture to put my observations and the results of my work 

 before the Entomological Public, with a view of rectifying 

 some of the mistakes that occur in the British and General 

 European catalogues. 



Schiödte in his work on the Danish species, worked 

 on the principle of ignoring all previous descriptions and 

 redescribing and naming the species, which would have been 

 a great benefit to all Coleopterists had it been universally 

 adopted; this, however, was rendered more or less impossible 

 by the fact that his extensive descriptions (with the excep- 

 tion of the short diagnosis in Latin) were written in Danish, 

 thus handicapping the entire work. I have no doubt in my 

 own mind, that had these descriptions been written in 

 English, French or German, his species would have been 

 more fully recognized. His original type specimens, however, 

 together with some of the Fabrician are preserved in the 

 Zoological Museum here in Copenhagen, and having been 

 given access to them through the courtesy of Dr. Meinert, 

 I have been able to make a practical resume of these beetles. 



