244 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



recedes by having the thorax somewhat remote from the elytra, 

 and produced at the hinder angles into an acute spine on each side, 

 the antenna? strongly pectinated in the males, and deeply serrated 

 in the females, the body cylindric, the legs short and compressed, 

 the scutellum elongate, and the labrum bifid. 



Sp. 1. buprestoides. Nigra opaca, thorace antice latiori subcanaliculato, elytro- 

 rum striis interruptis, vix punctatis. (Long. corp. 3— 3| lin.) 



El. buprestoides. Linne. — Me. buprestoides. Curtis, ii. pi. 55. — Steph. Catal. 

 121. No. 1225. 



Obscure black, sometimes inclining to castaneous, slightly glossy: head pubes- 

 cent, punctured ; forehead convex : thorax with the lateral margins slightly 

 expanded anteriorly, the disc thickly and deeply punctate, slightly pubescent, 

 with an obsolete impressed line down the centre : elytra somewhat rugose, 

 with nine somewhat interrupted punctate stria;, gradually approximating from 

 the base to the apex : body black, thickly punctured ; legs, antennae, and 

 palpi pale rufo-ferruginous. 



Variable in colour: in some examples the elytra are more or less castaneous, and 

 the body beneath somewhat rufous. 



Found in old decayed trees. Not common near London, but it 

 has been taken in tolerable plenty in the New Forest, by Mr. 

 Chant, who supplied me with specimens, and also by Mr. Millard 

 — it has also occurred near Windsor, where it was captured by Mr. 

 Herschel, and also in the neighbourhood of Halesworth, Suffolk. 



Family XXXIIL— ELATERIDiE, Leach. 



Antenna; not very short, filiform, sometimes serrated or pectinated : palpi with 

 the terminal joint generally triangular or reniform : mandibles notched or 

 bifid at the apex : body linear, depressed : thorax with the hinder angles 

 produced into a sharp tooth; the lateral margin beneath with a groove to 

 receive the antenna; : sternum produced behind into a sharp mucro, capable 

 of being applied at the will of the animal to a groove at the base of the abdo- 

 men, placed immediately between the origin of the second pair of legs; all 

 the latter very short. The females have an elongated ovipositor, composed of 

 three pieces, the lateral ones being pointed at the apex. 



The Elateridse, exclusively of their elongate form, may be at 

 once known from the other families of Coleoptera, by the sternum 

 being produced behind into an elongate spine, which fits into a 

 groove at the base of the abdomen, so that when the insect is laid 

 on its back, it is enabled to recover its position by bending the head 



