of Buprestide and Elateride. 205 
and shaped like a hand. The basal part increases in size with 
the number of the fingers; in Diacanthus pectinicornis it is 
divided into two or three lobes, with numerous short fingers. 
The number of these latter varies very much (in Cardiophorus 
ruficollis two, Melanotus castanipes three to five, Diacanthus bi- 
pustulatus five to six, Campylus linearis six to seven, Diacanthus 
tessellatus ten, Athous subfuscus thirteen, Agriotes aterrimus, 
lineatus, Limonius cylindricus twenty, Athous niger twenty to 
thirty). In Lacon murius the fingers are ramified, with small 
triangular dilatations in’ the angles; the gland opens with a 
short stem in the side of the somewhat swollen and muscular 
end of the duct. In Throscus, on the contrary, the accessory 
gland is a simple, thick, but-little-wound tube, imserted at the 
base of the bursa copulatrix. 
Several Elateridz possess, besides, a pair of very large vaginal 
glands which have more or less thick walls, are closely united at 
their bases, and inserted above the oviducts in the receding 
angle between them and the vagina. This is the case in Dia- 
canthus sjelandicus (but not in D. pectinicornis), in Agriotes ater- 
rimus, lineatus, obscurus, sputator, and marginatus. 
Many Elateride possess a peculiar, rather firm, inside more 
or less chitinized, funnel-shaped seminal groove, reaching from 
the base of the duct of the accessory gland to the mouth of the 
oviducts, or, in the cases where the vaginal glands just described 
occur, to their point of insertion—for instance, Agriotes spu- 
tator and marginatus, Athous subfuscus, and Campylus linearis. 
Finally, many Elateride possess a peculiar kind of lubricating 
glands, of which the yellow oily secretion is destined to facilitate 
the sliding of the vagma in the muscular tube. In Agriofes 
aterrimus, obscurus, sputator, and marginatus they are oval, 
almost reniform ; in Diacanthus tessellatus very long and slender, 
a little club-shaped toward their extremity. In Melanotus casta- 
nipes they are long, furnished with a lateral branch, and their 
end is tortuous; their walls are distinctly observed to be filled 
with transparent glandular cells placed edgewise ; towards their 
mouth they are abruptly constricted, and then continue them- 
selves as two minute tortuous tubes inside the outer membrane 
of the vagina, form a small dilatation, and finally perforate this 
membrane so as to discharge their contents in the muscular 
case of the vagina. The whole glandular tube can be moved by 
means of striped muscular fibres. 
The ovipositor is a long, thin, chitinous tube, supported by a 
pair of small lateral flaps, terminating in a small joint covered 
with short and stiff hairs, which carries the vaginal palpi. 
The male of Lacon murinus possesses a pair of bag-shaped 
scent-glands, of not inconsiderable dimensions; they are situ- 
