54 COLEOPTEEA. 



The largest of our spring-beetles is the Elater (^Alaus) 

 p..^ 2. oculatus of Linnaeus (Fig. 27). It is 



of a black color ; the thorax is oblong- 

 square, and nearly one third the length 

 of the whole body, covered above with a 

 whitish powder, and with a large oval 

 velvet-black spot, like an eye, on each 

 side of the middle, frdm which the in- 

 sect derives its name, oculatus, or eyed ; 

 the wine-covers are marked with slen- 

 der longitudinal impressed lines, and are 

 sprinkled with numerous white dots ; 

 the under-side of the body, and the 

 legs, are covered with a white mealy powder. This large 

 beetle measures from one inch and a quarter to one inch and 

 three quarters in length. It is found on trees, fences, and 

 the sides of buildings, in June and July. It undergoes its 

 transformations in the trunks of trees. I have found many 

 of them in old apple-trees, together with their larvte, which 

 eat the wood, and from which I subsequently obtained the 

 insects in the beetle state. These larvas are reddish-yellow 

 grubs, proportionally much broader than the other kinds, 

 and very much flattened. One of them, which was found 

 fully grown early in April, measured two inches and a half 

 in length, and nearly four tenths of an inch across the mid- 

 dle of the body, and was not much narrowed at either ex- 

 tremity. The head was broad, brownish, and rough above ; 

 the upper jaws or nippers were very strong, curved, and 

 pointed ; the eyes were small and two in number, one beino' 

 placed at the base of each of the short antennae; the last 

 segment of the body was blackish, rough with little sharp- 

 pointed warts, with a deep semicircular notch at the end, 

 and furnished around the sides with little teeth, the two 

 hindmost of which were long, forked, and curved upwards 

 like hooks ; under this segment was a large retractile fleshy 

 prop-foot, armed behind M'ith little claws, and around the 



