174 Prof. J. C. Schiodte on the Classification 



300 genera. The usefulness of this work in procuring at any 

 rate a temporary survey of the extensive collections which have 

 accumulated in museums cannot, of course, be doubted ; but at 

 the same time it is but too apparent that this method is entirely 

 insufficient whenever it is attempted by its means to establish 

 and satisfactorily circumscribe natural groups. Not even for 

 the distinction of the two great natural families of Buprestidse 

 and Elateridse have truly scientific characters been forthcoming; 

 it has been found necessary to adopt a number of unsatisfactorily 

 characterized groups, forming, as is supposed, links of transition 

 between them ; and the characters which at length have been 

 fixed upon as the most distinctive and most generally valid are, 

 as will be shown hereafter, unstable both in theory and practice, 

 and unable to stand the test either of morphological criticism 

 or of careful examination. Two excellent entomologists have 

 engaged in the study of Elateridae, in order to bring about a 

 more natural view of the relationships ; I mean Germar and 

 Erichson : but, as Lacordaire observes, both have evidently 

 given it up in despair; and the last-ramed author himself, after 

 long-continued and careful investigations, cannot suggest any 

 other remedy than, as he expresses himself (Genera-des Coleopt. 

 iv. p. 137), "to let tradition make up for the inability of science 

 to master the subject." 



Lacordaire^s summary of the earlier investigations, and his 

 general view of the structure, development, and habits of Ster- 

 noxi, reappears, in all essential points, together with many va- 

 luable contributions of detail, in the extensive and independent 

 treatises on these families which have appeared during the last few 

 years from the hands of Leconte*, Kiesenwetterf, Thomson J, 

 and Candeze§. In this manner certain views concerning the 

 principal points in the natural history of these animals have been 

 temporarily established by the repeated examination and assent 

 of the greatest modern authorities in this department. 



II. 



If we attempt to extract from all these sources the essence of 

 the information they offer concerning the larvae of Buprestidse 

 and Elateridse, the result may be thus summed up. 



The larvae of Buprestidse are soft, elongated, blind, apod, and 

 live burrowing in timber. Their prothorax is discoid, laterally 

 distended, their head divided into two parts, of which the smaller 



* Classification of the Coleoptera of North America, Part 1. Washing- 

 ton, 1861-1862. 



t Naturgeschichte der Insecten Deutschlands, iv. Berlin, 1858. 



X Skandinaviens Coleoptera, synoptiskt bearbetade, vi. Lund, 1864. 



§ Monographie des Elaterides. Liege, 1857, &c. 



