LAMPYRID^E. 101 



LA.MPYRID^E. 



Twenty-one fossil species of this family have been described or indi- 

 cated, belonging to nine genei-a. Two of these genera, one in amber and 

 one in the Tertiaries of New Sonth Wales, are regarded as extinct. 



CHAULIOGNATHUS Hentz. 



An American genus, with a moderate number of species. One species 

 has been found fossil in Colorado. 



Chauliognathus pristinus. 



PI. XI, fig. 3. 



Chauliognathus jyristinim Scudd., Bull. U. S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. Terr.. II. 81 (1876); 

 in Zittel, Handb. Palajont. (I), II, 769, fig. 1032 (188.5). 



A single specimen, with its reverse, was obtained by Mr. T. L. Mead at 

 what was then known as Castello's ranch. It is very fairly preserved and 

 presents a dorsal view of the insect, with the left elytron and wing par- 

 tially expanded. The antennae are about as long as the elytra, and appai-- 

 ently consist of twelve joints, most or all of which are similar to one another, 

 cylindrical, about tln'ee times as long as broad, and scarcely smaller at the 

 proximal than at the distal extremity. The prothorax is small, scarcely 

 larger than the head, the anterior border rounded. The elytra are slender, 

 square at the shoulder, each independently rounded and slightly tapering 

 at the apex, not reaching the tip of the abdomen. The abdomen, which 

 tapers posteriorly, appears, however, to be unnaturally produced; more 

 than four segments can be counted upon the unexpanded elytron. The 

 wings are only as long as the elytra. The legs are slender, but the tarsi are 

 indistinguishable. 



But for the brevity of the elytra there would be little doubt that this 

 insect should be referred to Chauliognathus. It has the general appear- 

 ance, also, of a Maltliinus or a Malthodes, but the wings are not exposed 

 when the elytra are closed, and the insect is much larger than the living 

 species of this genera. Heer has described, from Oeningen and Radoboj, 

 several species of this family, but none so large as this, unless it be his 

 Telephorus germari. Our species has much the general appearance of his 



