174 Prof. J. C. Schiddte on the Classification 
300 genera. The usefulness of this work in procuring at any 
rate a temporary survey of the extensive collections which have 
accumulated in museums cannot, of course, be doubted; but at 
the same time it is but too apparent that this method is entirely 
insufficient whenever it is attempted by its means to establish 
and satisfactorily circumscribe natural groups. Not even for 
the distinction of the two great natural families of Buprestide 
and Elateridz have truly scientific characters been forthcoming ; 
it has been found necessary to adopt a number of unsatisfactorily 
characterized groups, forming, as is supposed, links of transition 
between them; and the characters which at length have been 
fixed upon as the most distinctive and most generally valid are, 
as will be shown hereafter, unstable both in theory and practice, 
and unable to stand the test either of morphological criticism 
or of careful examination. Two excellent entomologists have 
engaged in the study of Elateride, in order to bring about a 
more natural view of the relationships; I mean Germar and 
Erichson: but, as Lacordaire observes, both have evidently 
given it up in despair ; and the last-named author himself, after 
long-continued and careful investigations, cannot suggest any 
other remedy than, as he expresses himself (Genera des Coléopt. 
iv. p. 137), ‘to let tradition make up for the inability of science 
to master the subject.” 
Lacordaire’s summary of the earlier investigations, and his 
general view of the structure, development, and habits of Ster- 
noxi, reappears, in all essential points, together with many va- 
luable contributions of detail, in the extensive and independent 
treatises on these families which have appeared during the last few 
years from the hands of Leconte*, Kiesenwetter+, Thomson {, 
and Candéze§. In this manner certain views concerning the 
principal points in the natural history of these animals have been 
temporarily established by the repeated examination and assent 
of the greatest modern authorities in this department. 
Ll. 
If we attempt to extract from all these sources the essence of 
the information they offer concerning the larvee of Buprestidee 
and Elateride, the result may be thus summed up. 
The larvee of Buprestide are soft, elongated, blind, apod, and 
live burrowing in timber. Their prothorax is discoid, laterally 
distended, their head divided into two parts, of which the smaller 
* Classification of the Coleoptera of North America, Part 1. Washing- 
ton, 1861-1862. 
+ Naturgeschichte der Insecten Deutschlands, iv. Berlin, 1858. 
{ Skandimaviens Coleoptera, synoptiskt bearbetade, vi. Lund, 1864. 
§ Monographie des Elatérides. Liege, 1857, &c. 
