BEETLES. 45 



FAMILY IV. Elateridce. 



Structure adapted for leaping ; body more or less oval ; projec- 

 tion behind the prosternum fitting into a cavity of the mesosternum ; 

 hinder angles of the thorax often produced into spines; eyes 

 oval; antennae generally serrated or pectinated; larvae feeding 

 either on the roots of plants or on rotten wood. 



This important family includes the well-known Click Beetles, 

 so called from their power of leaping up with a slight noise. 

 Their larvae are but too well known to farmers and gardeners as 

 wire-worms, being long, slender, and exceedingly tough. To this 

 family also belong the Fire-flies of the Tropics. Although less 

 brilliant than the Buprestidce, many of the Elateridce are of 

 considerable size and variegated colours, and they are far more 

 numerous in cold climates than the former family. 



The European species may easily be recognised by their 

 peculiar shape ; they are generally from a quarter to half an inch 

 in length, and of uniform colours : black, bronzy, brown, greenish, 

 or red. They frequent flowers, and several species are always 

 abundant in corn-fields, their larvae feeding on the roots of the 

 corn. Alaus Oculatus, Linn., is a common North American 

 species, about an inch and a half in length ; it is black, with two 

 white rings on the thorax, and longitudinal white lines on the 

 elytra. Chakolepidius, Esch., a genus confined to America, is 

 remarkable for the great breadth of the hinder part of the thorax 

 and the base of the elytra. C. Eschscholtzii, Chevr., is of a 

 dull green colour, lined with black, and bordered with dull orange. 

 Semiotus, Esch., another American genus, is long, slender, and 

 pointed behind; the species are rather more than an inch in 

 length, and of a reddish-brown colour. Nearly all the largest and 

 handsomest species of this family are American ; the luminous 

 species belong to the genus Pyrophorus, 111. One of the commonest 

 West Indian and South American fire-flies is P. Nodilucus, 

 Linn., which is dark brown, with two dull yellow spots at the 

 back of the thorax. The two spots of light which it emits at the 

 juncture of the thorax and abdomen, and which it can withdraw 

 at pleasure, resemble a small flame of fire of a slightly greenish 

 shade. Live fire-flies have been exhibited in London on several 

 occasions lately. 



