138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the LebUc, the head and abdomen greenish black ; feet, thorax, 

 and four basal joints of the antennas honey yellow ; the rest of 

 the antennas, with the tarsi and knees, black ; and tlie elytra of 

 a brilliant green. It is about .30 in length, and .09 in breadth. 



Scarites subterrdneus of Fabricius, or the subterranean 

 Scarites, (the latter name was used by the Greeks to denote a 

 precious stone known only to the ancients,) is readily distin- 

 guished by its peculiar form, the thorax being connected to the 

 abdomen by a long cylindrical joint. It is of a deep black, 

 with the exception of the tarsi and antennse these are brown, 

 and somewhat hairy ; the fore-feet are stout and strongly 

 toothed, fitting the insect for its mode of life, as it derives its 

 name from its hahit of burrowing in the earth to feed upon 

 other insects ; the head is quite large, the mandibles deeply 

 carved ; the front is marked with two large indentations, and 

 the thorax is rounded at the hinder angles and acutely pointed 

 at the anterior, with an impressed line around the marghi, and 

 a longitudinal one in the middle. Length from tip of mandi- 

 bles .75, breadth about .22. 



Pasimachus depressus of Fabricius, a much larger insect of 

 somewhat similar appearance, is more rarely found here, but is 

 quite common in the middle and southern States ; its habits are 

 much the same as those of the preceding. 



The genus Clivina of Latreille is well represented in this 

 State by various species, none of them measuring over half an 

 inch in length, and the majority of them much less ; they are 

 of a plain brown or polished black, and may be known by their 

 resemblance to the subterranean Scarites in the form of the 

 thorax and abdomen, which are more distant than in the 

 following. 



Scaphinolus elevutus of Fabricius is so named from two 

 Greek words signifying boat-backed, in allusion to its outline ; 

 elevdtus meaning raised, is applicable to the swelling of the 

 back along the suture, or to the elevated margins of the thorax 

 and elytra. It is occasionally seen in the vicinity of woods, its 

 bright purple elytra readily catching the eye ; it has a long, 

 narrow, black licad, with prominent eyes ; a black thorax, with 

 tj^e lateral margins curving upward, so as to give it a very 

 concave appearance, and the hinder corners deeply overlapping 

 the elytra ; the latter are turned up at the anterior margins, 



