THE BUPRESTIDiE. 247 



It is a singular circumstance, that, although the affinity 

 of the perfect insects of the present family is remark- 

 ably close to the next — the ElateridcB, — yet their larvifi 

 are so different, that a system, founded upon these, 

 would widely separate them : the larvae of the former, 

 as far as they are known, are apods, with greatly en- 

 larged heads, and a tapering body ; whereas the Elaters 

 present two types, — both, however, possessing legs ; 

 — the one is long, slender, and completely cylindrical, 

 exhibited in the wire worm, which is so excessively 

 injurious to farming crops ; and the next is the flattened 

 form of the larva of Lepidotus. Although these in- 

 sects are not usually metallic, yet instances occur, as in 

 Ludius fulgens from China, and in our native Selato- 

 sonms ceneus and Ctenicerus pectinicornis : they are, 

 however, in compensation, frequently decorated with 

 brilliant tints, particularly of a bright sanguineous hue, 

 as we find it in the Eluter sanguineus and Pomonce ; 

 and this is often contrasted with an intense black, as in 

 the genus Cardiophorus, and the remarkable Brazilian 

 Tomecephalus. The distinguishing feature of the Ela- 

 teridce is, as we have before noticed, their power of 

 leaping, but by a totally different apparatus to the legs : 

 but some, standing upon the confines of the family, as 

 Pterotarsus and Lissomus, are divested of this faculty ; 

 as is also the extremely remarkable Chelonarium, — if, 

 indeed, it belongs to this group. Serrated antennae are 

 a characteristic ; but these are frequently flabellated, as 

 in Tetralobus, or beautifully bipectinated, as in Calli- 

 rhipis. The usual form of these insects is regularly 

 ellipsoidal ; in some, however, the thorax forms a 

 capouch over the head, thus pointing towards Anobium 

 and Apate ; and it is in the latter group we expect 

 that Melasis ought most properly to be placed, — pre- 

 senting, as it does, such strong affinities to Ptiliniis. 

 Generic separation has been effected amongst them by the 

 lobated structure of the tarsi and the denticulations of 

 their claws, considered in conjunction with the form of 

 the posterior coxse, their antenns, and clypeus. The 



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