56 COLEOPTERA. 



This Elater appears in the same places as the cinereus in 

 April, May, and June ; and the recently transformed beetles 

 can also be found in the autumn under the bark of trees, 

 where they pass the winter. 



Another kind of spring-beetle, which absolutely swarms in 

 paths and among the grass during the warmest and brightest 

 days in April and May, is the Mater (JLudius) appressifrons 

 of Say. Its specific name probably refers to the front of 

 the head or visor being pressed downwards over the lip. The 

 body is slender and almost cylindrical, of a deep chestnut- 

 brown color, rendered gray, however, by the numerous short 

 yellowish hairs with which it is covered.; the thorax is of 

 moderate length, not much narrowed before, convex above, 

 with very long and sharp-pointed hinder angles, and in cer- 

 tain lights has a brassy hue ; the whig-covers are finely punc- 

 tured, and have very slender impressed longitudinal lines 

 upon them ; the claws are not toothed beneath. This beetle 

 usually measures from four to five tenths of an inch in 

 length ; but the females frequently greatly exceed these di- 

 mensions, and, being much more robust, with a more convex 

 thorax, were supposed by Mr. Say to belong to a different 

 species, named by him brevicornis, the short-horned. The 

 larvas are not yet known to me ; but I have strong reasons 

 for thinking that they live in the ground, upon the roots of 

 the perennial grasses and other herbaceous plants. 



Although above sixty different kinds of spring-beetles are 

 rig. 29. now known to inhabit Massachusetts, I shall 

 add to the foregoing a description of onlv one 

 more species. This is the Elater (Agriotes) 

 obesus 8 of Say (Fig. 29). It is a short and 

 thick beetle, as the specific name implies ; its 

 real color is a dark brown, but it is covered with 

 dirty yellowish-gray hairs, which on the wing- 

 covers are arranged in longitudinal stripes ; the head and 



[ 8 Elater (Agriotes) obesus. I am inclined to believe this species to be the Ela- 

 ter mancus, Say, and not his E. obesus, which is now entirely unknown. — Lec] 



