﻿ARTICLE 
  XXVIII. 
  

  

  (From 
  the 
  American 
  Philosophical 
  Transactions, 
  Vol 
  X.) 
  

  

  Revision 
  of 
  the 
  Elateridas 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States. 
  By 
  J 
  aim 
  L. 
  h< 
  Cotite, 
  M. 
  D. 
  Rend 
  October 
  

  

  21sf, 
  1853. 
  

  

  Before 
  proceeding 
  to 
  the 
  consideration 
  of 
  the 
  characters 
  hy 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  guided 
  

   in 
  my 
  endeavour 
  to 
  classify 
  the 
  large 
  group 
  of 
  Coleopterous 
  insects 
  herein 
  treated 
  of, 
  it 
  

   will 
  be 
  proper 
  to 
  allude 
  briefly 
  to 
  what 
  has 
  been 
  already 
  done 
  in 
  relation 
  to 
  this 
  branch 
  

   of 
  entomology. 
  

  

  After 
  the 
  separation 
  of 
  Eucnemis 
  by 
  Ahrens, 
  Pyrophorus 
  by 
  Illiger, 
  and 
  a 
  few 
  other 
  

   genera 
  by 
  various 
  entomologists, 
  the 
  first 
  person 
  who 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  convinced 
  of 
  

   the 
  necessity 
  of 
  a 
  systematic 
  division 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  Linnean 
  genus 
  Elater, 
  was 
  Eschscholtz. 
  

   This 
  excellent 
  naturalist 
  published, 
  in 
  Thon's 
  Entomologisches 
  Archiv 
  for 
  1829, 
  a 
  synop- 
  

   tic 
  table 
  of 
  the 
  divisions 
  established 
  upon 
  the 
  species 
  then 
  known 
  to 
  him. 
  Finding, 
  with 
  

   more 
  extensive 
  researches, 
  the 
  imperfection 
  of 
  the 
  views 
  there 
  given, 
  he 
  afterwards 
  de- 
  

   vised 
  another 
  table 
  of 
  genera, 
  based 
  chiefly 
  upon 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  the 
  species 
  in 
  the 
  collection 
  

   of 
  Count 
  Dejean. 
  

  

  Being 
  prevented 
  by 
  death 
  from 
  concluding 
  his 
  labours, 
  this 
  table 
  remained 
  in 
  a 
  manu- 
  

   script 
  form 
  for 
  several 
  years, 
  but 
  was 
  eventually 
  published 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Laporte 
  in 
  the 
  fourth 
  

   volume 
  of 
  Silbermann's 
  Revue 
  Entomologique. 
  Mr. 
  Laporte 
  took 
  occasion, 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  

   time, 
  to 
  add 
  several 
  new 
  genera 
  to 
  those 
  of 
  Eschscholtz. 
  

  

  The 
  next 
  addition, 
  to 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  the 
  classification 
  of 
  this 
  family, 
  is 
  due 
  to 
  La- 
  

   treille, 
  who, 
  however, 
  also 
  died 
  before 
  concluding 
  his 
  investigations; 
  the 
  imperfect 
  results 
  

   of 
  which, 
  unfortunately 
  in 
  a 
  very 
  confused 
  form, 
  are 
  published, 
  as 
  a 
  posthumous 
  memoir, 
  

   in 
  the 
  third 
  volume 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  series 
  of 
  the 
  Annales 
  de 
  la 
  Societe 
  Entomologique 
  de 
  

   France. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  first 
  volume 
  of 
  his 
  Zeitschrift 
  fur 
  Entomologie, 
  Germar 
  reprinted 
  all 
  of 
  Esch- 
  

   scholtz's 
  synoptic 
  table, 
  that 
  relates 
  to 
  genuine 
  Elateridse, 
  and 
  then 
  proceeded 
  to 
  the 
  con- 
  

   sideration 
  of 
  separate 
  groups 
  of 
  genera; 
  admitting, 
  however, 
  that 
  these 
  groups, 
  founded 
  

   upon 
  some 
  ideas 
  of 
  Eschscholtz 
  on 
  the 
  value 
  of 
  the 
  lobes 
  of 
  the 
  tarsal 
  joints, 
  were 
  purely 
  

   artificial, 
  but 
  confessing 
  that 
  until 
  the 
  isolated 
  genera 
  were 
  more 
  fully 
  defined, 
  nothing 
  

   could 
  be 
  done 
  towards 
  a 
  natural 
  classification: 
  a 
  view 
  repeated 
  by 
  Erichson 
  in 
  his 
  mono- 
  

   graph 
  of 
  Elaters 
  with 
  pectinate 
  tarsal 
  claws, 
  in 
  the 
  third 
  volume 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  work. 
  

  

  