of Buprestidse arid Elateridae. 201 



A. ruficaudis) a short lateral branch starts from the point where 

 they bend forwards again. In Cebrio the vasa deferentia, though 

 very long, are towards their lower extremity suddenly extended 

 into a long winding folliculus, of which the circumference is 

 five or six times that of the thin part. 



The ductus ejaculatorius is short, thick, and clumsy; it re- 

 ceives at the top, besides the vasa deferentia, three pairs of 

 glandular vesicles. 



The first pair of these, which are more properly described as 

 vesiculse seminales (spermatophorous glands), vary considerably 

 in size and shape, though they form generally the most conspi- 

 cuous parts of the interior sexual organs of the male. In 

 Diacanthus pectinicornis they are fusiform, unusually small, 

 1"2 millim. long, whilst the ductus ejaculatorius in this species 

 is particularly thick, club-shaped, and about 3*6 niillims. long. 

 In Athous nig er, ruficaudis, andsubfuscus they are, on the contrary, 

 very large bags, of oval, on the inside somewhat concave form ; 

 in Adrastus liinbatus and Diacanthus tessellatus the shape of the 

 bag is still more arched and the inner anterior angles some- 

 what produced ; in Limonius minutus and Diacanthus bipustu- 

 latus the curvature increases, and in the last-mentioned species 

 the anterior angles are likewise produced ; this protraction of 

 the angles is further increased in another series of species, 

 and the angles are variously wound, as in Cnjptohypnus quadri- 

 pustulatus, Agriotes aterrimus and marginatus, and Ampedus 

 balteatus ; in Lacon murinus the anterior angles are even divided 

 each into two unequal branches, which are wound in spirals each 

 in its own direction j in Agriotes obscurus, finally, the vesiculse 

 seminales have the shape of a stout, arched and winding tube, to- 

 wards the end spiral, with a short, thick lateral branch, whilst 

 in Agriotes lineatus they differ by being wound in double spirals 

 at their end. In Cebrio these organs are slender, not stouter 

 than the extended part of the vas deferens, with arched and 

 spirally wound ends. But with regard to all these varieties 

 of form, it must be observed that they embrace only the outer 

 forms of the vesiculaj seminales, whilst the inner membrane is 

 quite independent and does not by any means follow the external 

 outline of the organ. This inner membrane forms a compli- 

 cated system of cavities and expansions communicating with one 

 another. In Cryptohypnus quadripustulatus its anterior part 

 terminates in two long, extremely fine tubes, which accompany 

 the anterior winding part of the vesicula. In Agriotes obscurus 

 it forms a long tube with various dilatations, and is accompanied 

 by a darker band, of alternating width, and of which the lighter 

 parts show themselves to be composed of perpendicular cellular 

 glands. The tube enters into the above-mentioned thick lateral 



