76 SERRICORNIl. [ 



narrowed behind, and the thorax less narrowed in front ; the antennae, 

 moreover, are shorter, and the elytra finely but not so closely punc- 

 tured ; from all the three preceding it may lie known, apart from other 

 differences, by the fact that the head has no raised carinse ; it is, too, 

 more oval than any of our other species. L. lf-lf mm. 



In moss, haystack and flood refuse, &c. ; not common (although occasionally found 

 in some numbers), and very local ; Lee ; Sheerness (where Mr. J. J. Walker once 

 found it in abundance in moss on stumps of trees in winter) ; Chatham ; Bipley, 

 Surrey; Forest Hill; Highgate; Eynsham ; Plaistow Marshes; Dapenham ; Har- 

 wich ; Southsea district out of furze, by beating, January to June ; Isle of Wight ; 

 Weymouth. 



EUCNEMIDJE. 



This family has been by some authors included under the Elateridae, 

 to which it is closely allied ; in fact, it appears to be somewhat doubt- 

 ful whether it ought to be separated, as the only real differences seem to 

 lie in the fact that the labrum is concealed, and in the insertion of the 

 antennae, which, as Dr. Horn has pointed out, are inserted upon tho 

 front, at the inner extremity of transverse grooves, before which the 

 front is expanded again ; they are placed further from the eyes than in 

 the Elateridae, but in many cases, e.g. Eucnemis and Melasis, are very 

 far from being contiguous, a character which has sometimes been put 

 forward for the family ; another mistake that has been made with 

 regard to this family is the statement that they do not possess the 

 power of leaping when placed on their backs, which is so characteristic 

 of the Elateridae ; in some cases it is absent, and in others little deve- 

 loped, but in Eucnemis, as pointed out by Ahrens seventy years ago, it 

 is very marked, and the same is the case with other genera. 



The family contains nearly a hundred genera, comprising about five 

 hundred species ; they are chiefly found in tropical countries, but a fair 

 number are found in Europe and North America ; if we exclude the 

 Thoroscidae and Cerophytidae, we may reckon fifteen genera and thirty 

 species as occurring on the former continent, of which three genera and 

 three species are found in Britain ; these are all rare, and the genus 

 Eucnemis has only quite recently been detected in the New Forest. 



The larvae of the Eucneinidae appear to bear a somewhat close relation to those of 

 the Buprestida?, but those that are known differ from them by having the labial 

 palpi and maxillae either entirely wanting or quite rudimentary. Schiodte classified 

 the larva of Melasis buprestoidet amongst the Elaterida?, all of which he considered 

 to be carnivorous, but Dr. Sharp has pointed out that the larvse of Eucnemis 

 capucina are certainly not truly carnivorous, but probably live by imbibing the 

 juices of the decayed wood in which they are found. 



I. Maxillary pnlpi with the last joint scute ; antennae 

 distant, flabellate in male, pectinate in female ; thorax 



widest in front MELISIS, 01. 



II. Maxillary palpi with the last joint large, more or less 

 dilated ; thorax widest behind. 



