ELATER. 85 



Many species of Elater are natives of our own 

 country; but they are rarely distinguished by any 

 brilliancy of colour, and are far inferior in size to 

 an v of the exotic ones above-mentioned. One of the 







largest is the Elater ferrug'meus, measuring about 

 three quarters of an inch, and as its name imports, 

 of a ferruginous or reddish-brown colour; but the 

 hind part of the thorax is bordered with black : it 

 is found in fields, among grass, in the month of 

 June. 



The Elater sanguineus is considerably smaller, 

 and is distinguished by its bright-red wing-sheaths, 

 the body and thorax being black: it is found in 

 similar situations with the preceding. 



Elater tesselatus is of the size of ferrugineu?, 

 and is brown, with a slight coppery tinge, and 

 scattered over with fine ash-coloured pile, in such 

 a manner as to appear tesselated or marked into 

 minute squarish divisions: it is not uncommon in 

 fields during the middle of summer. The larvas 

 of these insects are of a slender form, and devour 

 the roots of the grasses, &c. That destructive in- 

 sect known by the name of the wire-worm is said 

 to be the larva of the Elater obscurus. 



