ELATER. ELATER. 



Generic Character. 



Antenna setacese. 



Corpus elongatum, dorso 

 impositum exiliens mu- 

 crone pectoris e foramine 

 abdominis resiliente* 



Antenna setaceous. 



Body oblong, when placed 

 on the back, springing 

 up, by means of the pec- 

 toral spine starting from 

 the abdominal foramen. 



A HE leading character in this genus is a strong 

 spine situated beneath the thorax, and so consti- 

 tuted by Nature as to fit at pleasure, into a small 

 cavity on the upper part of the abdomen; thus 

 enabling the insect, when laid on its back, to 

 spring up with great force, in order to regain its 

 proper position. 



This genus is pretty extensive, but few of the 

 European species are comparable in point of size 

 to those which are natives of the tropical regions. 

 Among the most remarkable of these may be 

 numbered the Elater flabellicornis, an insect mea- 

 suring not less than two inches and a half in 

 length, and which differs from the rest in having 

 very strongly pectinated antennae, the divisions 

 of which, forming a kind of fan oh the upper part 

 of each, are nearly a quarter of an inch long: the 



