88 SERRICORNIA. [Cryptohypnus. 
C. dermestoides, Herbst. (Zorochros dermestoides, Thoms.). 
Black, unicolorous, finely pubescent, rather depressed ; head thickly 
punctured, antenne long and thin, black with base lighter, second and 
third joints of about equal length ; thorax about as broad as long, rather 
strongly convex, with sides rounded, very finely and somewhat rugosely 
punctured, with the lateral carine extending beyond middle, and with 
more or less distinet traces of a smooth central line ; elytra rather finely 
striated, with the interstices finely and obsoletely punetured ; legs 
yellowish-red, with tibize often darker, L, 2-3 mm. 
On the banks of streams, in gravel, under stones, &c.; iocal, but common in many 
high and northern districts ;- Bewdley ; Church Stretton; Llangollen ; Capel Curig 
and Snowdon district generally ; Repton; Ripon; Scarborough ; Lancaster district ; 
Northumberland and Durham district, common; Scotland, cominon, Sol-vay, Forth, 
Tay, Dee, Moray, and probably other districts; Ireland, near Dublin and Killarney. 
V. quadriguttatus, Lap. (C. tetragraphus, Germ.). This variety has 
two small spots on each elytron, one at base and another before apex ; 
it may easily be known from C. quadripustulatus by the spots on elytra 
being much smaller, and by not having the posterior angles of thorax 
reddish-yellow, but unicolorous with the rest of the thorax, 
Found under the same circumstances and in company with the type form in the 
same localities. 
ELATER, Linn¢, 
This genys contains about a hundred species, of which very few are 
found in tropical countries; they have a very wide range, extending 
from Siberia and Lapland im the north to Patagonia in the south; a 
large proportion of the species occur in North America; twenty-seven 
have been met with in Europe, of which eleven are found in Britain ; 
the larve do not appear to call for any particular remark ; they differ to 
a certain extent among themselves in punctuation, and in the form of 
the last abdominal segment ; as they are nearly always found in deeay- 
ing trees, they are not destructive to crops. In structure and sculpture 
the species are very closely allied, and it is therefore better to tabulate 
them by their colour for the sake of identification ; the posterior angles 
of the thorax are projecting and carinate in all the species. 
I. Elytra bright scarlet, anicolorous. 
i. Thorax shorter, less parallel-sided, and more shiny. 
1. Pubescenee black; central furrow of thorax 
traceable throughout . Age ata pn oe cr oc 
2. Pubescence rufescent or pale fuscous ; central 
furrow of thorax only visible at base . . . . KE. LYTHROPTERUS, Germ. 
ii. Thorax longer, more parallel-sided, and duller. . E. coccrnatus, Rye. 
11. Elytra bright scarlet, as a rule marked with a large 
common elongate black spot; central furrow of 
thorax entirely wanting or very feebly marked at 
nase: s)he. Cae. TR Te PG ey axed ete eee 
III. Elytra bright scarlet, with the extreme apex more 
E. saAnauinevs, LZ. 
E. SANQUINOLENTUS, Schr. 
