SOME NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 165 



abbreyiated line placed low down: thorax with scattered discoidal 

 punctures ; no lateral indentation : elytra purple ; indented at the mid- 

 dle of the base and behind the humerus ; punctures rather large but 

 not deeply impressed, placed in series and obsolete behind : tihise, an- 

 gulated.-— Length under three-twentieths of an inch. 



This insect is certainly congeneric with the preceding, but it cannot 

 be placed in Trachys, or even in Aphanisticus, if pusillus, Olivier, can 

 be considered as a type of it. 



APHANISTICUS, Latr. 



A. gracilis, Nob. ( Trachys) Ann. Lye. New York. The thorax is 

 not laterally dilated and reflected. 



MELASIS, Oliv. 



M. nigricornis, Nob., Journ. A. N. S. 



I was deterred from referring this species to Cerophytum, Latr., by 

 the character "le penultieme article des tarses bifide. Le corps est 

 ovale." Our insect cannot therefore be the Melasis picea, Beauv., 

 which is referred to Cerophytum. 



ELATER, L. 



t Tarsi not lobed beneath. 



1. E. ohlessus, Nob. (discoideus, Fabr.). The Fabrician phrase, 

 when describing the elytra, is, " elytra striata, atra, margine baseos la- 

 teralique late albo ;" but as the whitish portion occupies about two- 

 thirds of the whole surface and might lead to error, it would be better 

 to say, elytra whitish, with the sutural margin and exterior edge except- 

 ing at base, black, 



I change the Fabrician name, because it is preoccupied by Weber 

 for a very different species of this country.* 



2. E. morio, F. Herbst. E. Isevigatus, F. Herbst. E. piceus, De- 

 geer, Turton's Linn. 



* Dr Harris says that Weber's species, here referred to, is the hematics of Fabricius ; and 

 that Mr Say does not seem to have known the Elater discoideus of Fabricius, which is quite 

 distinct from the above named oblessus. 



