428 



Elater, properly so called. 



The antennse of the males are simply serrated *. 



£. noctilucus, 1j.; Taupin cucujo, Oliv., Col., II, 2, 31, 11, 14, a. 

 Rather more tlian an inch long ; dusky-brown, Avith a cinere- 

 ous down ; a convex, yellow, round, shining spot on each side 

 of the thorax near its posterior angles ; elytra marked with lines 

 of small punctures. From South America. 



During the night, the thoracic spots diffuse a very strong 

 light, sufficiently bright to enable one to read the smallest cha- 

 racter, particularly if several of the Insects be placed in the same 

 vase. By it also the women of the country pursue their work, 

 and Ladies even use it as an ornament, placing it in their hair 

 during the evening paseo. The Indians fix them to their feet 

 to light them in their nocturnal journeys. Brown pretends that 

 all the internal parts of the Insect are luminous, and that it 

 has the power of suspending, ad libitum, its phosphoric pro- 

 perty f. The French colonists call it 3Iouc he lumineuse, and 

 the Indians, Cucmjos, Coijouyou, whence the Spanish term Cu- 

 cujo. An individual of this species, accidently transported to 

 Paris in some Avood, in its larva or pupa state, completed its 

 metamorphosis there, and greatly astonished the inhabitants of 

 the faubourg Saint-Antoine by its, to them, extraordinary light. 



E. ceneus,li.; 01iv.,Col., lb., viii, 83. Six lines long, bronze 

 green ; glossy ; elytra striated; legs fulvous. Germany and the 

 North of Europe. 



E. germanus, L, ; Oliv., lb., 11, 12. Very common in the 

 vicinity of Paris, and only differing from the seneus in the colour 

 of its feet, which are black. 



E. cruciatus, Oliv., lb, IV, 40. A pretty European species, 

 with the appearance of the seneus, but smaller ; black ; two lon- 

 gitudinal red bands on the thorax, near the lateral margin ; 

 elytra yellowish-red, with a black line near the anterior angles 

 of their base, and two bands of the same colour forming a cross 

 on the suture. Rare near Paris. 



E.castaneus, L. ; Oliv., lb. Ill, 25; v, 51. Black; thorax 

 covered with a reddish down; elytra yellowish with a black ex- 

 tremity; antennae of the male pectiniform. Europe. 



E. ruficollis, L.; Oliv., lb., VI, 61, a, b. Three lines in 

 length, and of a shining black ; posterior half of the thorax red. 

 North of Europe. 



* The anterior extremity of the head is sometimes on a level with the lahrum, 

 or on the same horizontal plane ; at others it is more elevated, and terminated sud- 

 denly ; but these diflferences, frequently imperceptible, cannot be used to establish 

 generic sections — rny genus Liidia requires a re-exaraination. 



f M.de la Cordaire who has examined the living Insect informs me than the prin- 

 cipal reservoir of the phosphoric matter is situated inferiorly near the junction of the 

 thorax with the abdomen. 



