COLKOETERA. 349 



terminated in a laterally compressed point, that is simply received into a de- 

 pression or emargination of the mesosternum. The mandibles frequently 

 terminate in an entire point, without any fissure or emargination. The pos- 

 terior angles of the thorax are either but very slightly or not at all prolonged. 

 The last joint of the palpi is most commonly nearly cylindrical, hardly thicker 

 than the preceding ; the others are globular or ovoid. Most of the tarsal 

 segments are generally wide or dilated, and furnished beneath with pellets. 

 These insects never leap, a character which eminently distinguishes them from 

 those of the following tribe : they compose the genus 



BUPRESTIS, Linn&us. 



The generic appellation of Richard, given to these Coleoptera by Geoffrey, 

 intimates the richness of their livery. Several of the European species, and 

 many that are foreign to that country, besides their size, are remarkable for a 

 brilliant polished gold colour on an emerald ground ; in others, an azure blue 

 glistens over the gold, or there is a union of several other metallic colours. 

 Their body, in general, is oval, somewhat wider and obtuse, or truncated before, 

 and narrowed behind from the base of the abdomen, which occupies the greater 

 part of its length. The eyes are oval, and the thorax is short and v ide. The 

 scutel small or null. The extremity of the elytra is more or less dentated in 

 many. The legs are short. 



They walk very slowly, but fly well in hot and dry weather. When about 

 to be seized, they let themselves fall to the ground. At the posterior extre- 

 mity of the abdomen of the females is a coriaceous, laminiform, conical 

 appendage composed of three parts, the last annul! of the abdomen; it is 

 probably an instrument with which they deposit their ova in dry wood, the 

 habitat of their larvae. Several small species are met with on leaves and flowers; 

 most of the others, however, are found in forests and wood yards : they some- 

 times appear in houses, where they have been transported, in wood, in the state 

 of a larva or chrysalis. 



B. gigas, Lin. Two inches long; thorax cupreous, mixed with brilli ant 

 green, and two large smooth spots of burnished steel; elytra tridentate at the 

 extremity, cupreous in the middle, bronze-green on the margin, with impressed 

 puncta, and elevated lines and rugae. Cayenne. 



This beautiful and extensive genus is now divided into four genera, viz. 

 Buprestis proper, Trachys, Aphanisticus, and Melasis. Numerous species are 

 found in this country. 



The second tribe or that of the ELATERIDES, which only differs essentially 

 from the first in the posterior stylet of the praesternum, which terminates in a 

 laterally compressed point, frequently somewhat arcuated and unidentate, 

 that sinks at the will of the animal into a cavity of the pectus, situated imme- 

 diately above the origin of the second pair of legs ; and in the circumstance 

 that these insects when placed on their back have the faculty of regaining 

 their original position by bounding upwards. Most of them have mandibles 

 emarginated or cleft at the end, palpi terminated by a triangular or securiform 



