56 COLEOPTERA. 



This Elatcr appears in the same places as the cinereus in 

 April, May, and June ; and the recently transformed beetles 

 can also be found in the autumn under the bark of trees, 

 where they pass the winter. 



Another kind of spring-beetle, which absolutely swarms in 

 paths and among the grass during the warmest and brightest 

 days in April and May, is the Slater {Ludius} appressifrons 

 of Say. Its specific name probably refers to the front of 

 the head or visor being pressed downwards over the lip. The 

 body is slender and almost cylindrical, of a deep chestnut- 

 brown color, rendered gray, however, by the numerous short 

 yellowish hairs with which it is covered ; the thorax is of 

 moderate length, not much narrowed before, convex above, 

 with very long and sharp-pointed hinder angles, and in cer- 

 tain lights has a brassy hue ; the wing-covers are finely punc- 

 tured, and have very slender impressed longitudinal lines 

 upon them ; the claws are not toothed beneath. This beetle 

 usually measures from four to five tenths of an inch in 

 length ; but the females frequently greatly exceed these di- 

 mensions, and, being much more robust, with a more convex 

 thorax, were supposed by Mr. Say to belong to a different 

 species, named by him brevicornis, the short-horned. The 

 larvae are not yet known to me ; but I have strong reasons 

 for thinking that they live in the ground, upon the roots of 

 the perennial grasses and other herbaceous plants. 



Although above sixty different kinds of spring-beetles are 

 Fig. 29. now known to inhabit Massachusetts, I shall 



*add to the foregoing a description of only one 

 more species. This is the Elater (Agriotes) 

 obcsus 8 of Say (Fig. 29). It is a short and 

 thick beetle, as the specific name implies ; its 

 real color is a dark brown, but it is covered with 

 dirty yellowish-gray hairs, which on the wing- 

 covers are arranged in longitudinal stripes ; the head and 



[ 8 Hater (Agriotes) obesus. I am inclined to believe this species to be the Ela- 

 ter manctu, Say, and not his E. obesus, which is now entirely unknown. LEC.] 



