510 IKSECTA. 



These insects are found upon flowers ,i!]d plants, or on the groiiiid ; they depress the head whilst 

 creepiiii,^ along, andfal) to the grniind when alarmed, a}ipl\i)ig the feet to tlicoutside of the hody, [which 

 has particular impressions for tlieir recr]itiiin]. 



De Geer describes the larva of one of tin- sprries, E. vri<]"lnhi<^ .- it is lung, iiearlv cvhndrieal ; furnished 

 with short antennas, palpi, six h'ct, twelve scaly segments, tin.' la^t of whicli forms a flattened rounded 

 plate, angular at the sides, with two recurved points at the cud; heneath is a large fleshy retractile 

 lobe, whieb performs the oftiec of a foot. It lives in soft rotten wood and in the ground. It appears, 

 also, that the larva of E. xfrlnfus, Fah., devours the roots of corn, and often does much injury where it 

 propagates extensively. [Thr Wire-worm, so well and objectionably known to the English farmer, is 

 the lai'va uf one of the eonimonest of our species, Ela(er {Cataplicuju..'^) sputalor, 

 which is ])rubably hut a variety of the E. lineatm, mentioned above ; this larva is 

 much more slender than tliat described l»y De Geer, and has the terminal segment of 

 the body entire and long, (resembhng, in hict, a bit of wire,) with two dark points 

 ^SS^i:^^X^jy ^^ i^lie base above.] 

 Fie, 5?.— KL.i.r ^y»^■A\.^^ We may refer the ditfc rent suligencra wliicli liavc Ijeen formed in this tiil/e to two principal 

 *'""' "^ '■"■'''■ divisions ; those in wliicli the antcnnic arc entirely lodged in the canals on the under-side 



of the prothorax compose tlie first. 



Galha, Latr., (having- the mandibles terminated in a simple point), and 



Euau'.ni.s, Arli., (in which they are bifid at the tip), ba\c the antenna receiver! on each side of tlie prnsternum 

 in a Iono;itudiual canal close to the lateral margins of the thorax, and the basal joints of tlie tarsi aru always without 

 elongated lobes beneath. (See the monograph of the last genus, by Count Mannerheim.) 



Adelocera, Latr., has filiform antennae ; the tarsal joints have no elongated lobes, and the two fore-lcs"s are lodged 

 in repose in lateral impressions on the under-side of the thorax. Elater oralis, and others from East India. 



Lissomits, Palm. (Lissodes, Latr., Drapetes, Meg.), has also the antennas of equal size throui^hout ; tai'sal joints 

 entire, but with the lobes on their under edi;xs advanced like small plates ; the head is exposed. See Dalman, 

 Ephem. Eut. 



Chelonariitin, Fab., has the seven terminal joints of the anteunrc minute, and the body ovoid. [Exotic insects of 

 small size.] 



T/irosrii.i, Latr. {Trixagua, Kui^.), has the antenna? terminated by a three-jointed nias^, and lodgeil iu a cavitv on 

 the under-side of the thorax ; the penultimate joint of the tarsi is bifid, and the mandibles are entire at tlie tip. 

 Type, Elaier dennesfoides, Linu., D^'rmesfes ad-strictor. Fab. [a rare Britisli insect, of minute size ami dull 

 brown colour, but especially interesting on account of its relations, being considered by some authors as allied to 

 the Derme.'-:tid:e from the structure of its antenna:. Its larva, according to Latreille, feeds upon the wood of 

 the oak]. 

 Our seconii division of this tribe comprises those species which have the antenna-- always free. 

 Cero})hyhim, Latr., has the fuur basal joints of tlie tarsi short and triangular, and the i-ienultimate joint bitid : 

 the antennse of the males are branched. 

 All the other genera have thejoints of the tarsi cylindrical and entire. 



Cn/pfosfoma, Dej.,bas the inner terminal aii,L;l(.' oC the third and scv.mi foUowInq; joints of the antenn.T, prolonged 

 into a tooth with a straight branch at the bast- ut thf tliinl joint. K/o/cr deuilcornis, Fab,, Cayenne. 



Nematodes^ Latr., has the hotly nearly linear, anil the antennae have the second and four following ju in ts reverse- 

 conic, and the five terminal joints thicker and nearly perfoliated. Euoiemtsjiium, Mann. 



Hemir/iipitSy Latr., has the male antenna: tei'Tuinatefi like a fan. These are exotic [and of Iar;;e size]. Ehiier 

 fiahelliconiis, Fabr. 



Ctenicents, Latr., has the male antennte pectinated throughout their whole leni^th. Elater j'cclhiicoriits, 

 Latr., [a common British species]. 



Eloter proper, has the male antenna:' simply serrated. Elater noctUijciis, Linn., South America,— about an inch 

 long; of a dark brown colour, with two pale dots on the thorax, which emit a very strong light durinij: theni^ht, 

 sufficient to enable a person to read the smallest writing, especially when several of the insects are placed together. 

 The Indian women ornament their head-dresses with these insects. Brown asserts that all the inner parts of the 

 insect are luminous, and that it can suspend its liffht at will ; but M. Lacordaire informs me that the principal 

 reservoir of the phosphorescent matter is situated on the under-side, at the junction of the abdomen with the 

 thorax. One of these insects, which had been carried in wood to Paris, in the larva state, caused great alarm to 

 the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine, who were ignorant of the cause of the light. 



Campi/fiis, Fischer, ExoptUaliiin.s, Latr., differs from all the preceding in having the liead free, and the eyes large 

 and fi^lobular; the body is lonj,^ and linear. Eluter linearis, Linn. 



riniiln.vriis, L.itr., is di-^tinuuished by having the palpi filiform [not clavate], and anteima- pectinated after the 

 funrih jniid. \ l'.jlar//ir,nn.s, south of Europe, figured by Guc'rin in his Iconographii.-.] 



[The family lillaterid.'e, on account of the general uniformity of their appearance, and dullness of their colours 

 liave only recently any attention in respect to their structural distribution into genera and subgenera. Dr. 

 Kschscholtz, however, in the second voKune of T/ion\^ EntomolofiiscJie Arch'iv.; Latreille, in the Annals of the 

 Entomological Sochiij of Erance for 1$34, and still more recently. Dr. Gcrn,ar, in the second number of i'lis 



