120 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



into an acute process : elytra elongate, slender : body elliptic, depressed : 

 sternum produced into a somewhat cylindric ridge, obtuse posteriorly and re- 

 ceived into a cavity: legs small, compressed, contractile ; femora broad; 

 tibia; linear, with a groove on the external edge to receive the tarsi, which are 

 slender, and have the penultimate joint bifid. 



The location of this genus is perhaps objectionable : Linnaeus 

 placed it with Elater, and Latreille in his Histoire Naturelle fol- 

 lowed his views ; but in the Genera Crustaceorum he removed it to 

 the Byrrhii, a situation whence he again ejected it in his Families 

 Naturelles, and restored to its former position, placing it in a section 

 by itself: how far that situation may be natural must be left for 

 future observations : there is some agreement in the tropin, but 

 the antennae are very dissimilar to those of any of the Elateridae, 

 and not widely unlike those of Megatoma serra in the present 

 family : — the larvae are supposed to be lignivorous, and the perfect 

 insect is generally found beneath bark or in similar places, like 

 several of the insects in the foregoing family, which has induced 

 me to place it here. The genus may be known from Dermestes by 

 the greater length of the antennae, by the last joint of the palpi 

 being remarkably large and somewhat securiform, and by the bifid 

 penultimate joint of the tarsi. 



Sp. 1. dermestoides. Obion go-avatus, fusco-piceus, pubescens, elytris punctato- 

 striatis; inter •stitiis seriatim punctatis ; fronte lineis duabus elevatis. (Long, 

 corp. 1 — if liri.) 



Elater dermestoides. Linne. — Th. dermestoides. Steph. Catal. 95. JVo. 1009. 



Oblong-ovate, pitchy-fuscous, slightly pubescent : head obtuse, with the fore- 

 head convex, punctate, with two elevated lines : eyes black : thorax emar- 

 ginate anteriorly, the base trilobed, the disc convex, coarsely and finely 

 punctulated, with a faint ridge before the scutellum : elytra slightly convex, 

 punctate-striate, with a series of large punctures between each stria : body be- 

 neath and legs pale rufo-piceous : antenna? fuscescent. 



Frequently taken near London from May to August : in June, 

 1815, I found a considerable number of specimens on some old 

 oak wainscoting at Coombe-wood ; and I have since found some 

 in similar situations at Hertford and Ripley. " On white thorn 

 and umbelliferous plants near Bexley."" — Mr.Bainbridge. " Gravel 

 pit, Coombe-wood, abundantly, in June." — Messrs. Ingpen and 

 Westwood. 



Sp. 2. obtusus. Ovatus, sordide castaneus, •pubescens, elytris striatis, interstitiis 

 punetulatis, front 'e immune. (Long. corp. f — 1 lin.) 



