158 ZOOLOGY. 
from a line to two and a half inches. Buprestis mariana (fig. 22%, to 
which this generic name properly belongs, is much like the North American 
M. virginiana. Fig. 23 represents Huchroma gigas, which inhabits 
Cayenne. The larvz in this family bore in wood, and may be frequently 
discovered under the bark of pine logs. 
The Llatercde (pl. 81, figs. 30-83) are closely allied to the Buprestidae, 
but the colors are not so brilliant, and the body is less hard. The chief 
difference is in the structure of the prothorax, which moves so freely in a 
vertical direction that the insect can employ this power to throw the body 
about, either to regain its position upon its feet or to escape. The pro- 
sternum has a projecting spine, which fits into a corresponding impression 
in‘ the mesosternum. They are generally found among living vegetables. 
We have found the larva of the large North American Alaus oculatus in 
the wood of ash trees. This species extends from the northern part of the 
United States to the latitude (19°) of Vera Cruz in Mexico. 
The Aprosternia (or Malacodernia) have the antenne generally long 
and serrated, sometimes clavate, and not lodged in a groove of the pro- 
sternum, the head deflexed and deeply seated, the body elongate and 
generally soft, and the feet rather long and slender. The greater part of 
them are winged. The larvee feed either upon wood or insects, and the 
adults are found upon flowers or plants, in dead wood, or upon the earth. 
Some are predaceous. The dfalacodermes of Latreille include the families 
Cebrionides, Lampyrides, Melyrides, Clairones, and Ptwmores ; but Stephens 
and Westwood extend the group considerably further, and the latter adds 
the family Scydmenide, which Stephens places with the Heteromera. With 
this exception, the families of these two authors agree, and are as follows: 1, 
Cebrionide ; 2, Cyphonide; 3 Lampyride ; 4, Telephoride ; 5, Melyride ; 
6, Cleride; 7, Ptinde,; 8, Lymexylonde; 9, Bostrichide,; 10, Scyd- 
menide. 
The Lampyride are well known as the family containing the fireflies 
and glow-worms. The body is lengthened and depressed, and with the 
elytra of a soft consistence, and the head is more or less hidden by the 
prothorax. Most of the species seem to be carnivorous. When disturbed 
they draw in their members and simulate death. The common glow-worm 
of the middle United States is the female of Photuris versicolor. 
In the Melyride, some of the species of Malachius are remarkable for 
having red lateral organs which they can swell or relax at pleasure, the use 
of which is not known. The species of this genus feed upon insects. 
In the Cleride, the larva of the genus Clerus is remarkable for destroying 
the larvee of bees. Vecrobia and Corynetes are found about old animal 
carcases, particularly upon the bones. 
The family Piinide contains various small oval insects with the head 
placed deep in the prothorax, the antenne eleven-articulate, filiform, or 
sometimes pectinate. They are of obscure colors, and counterfeit death. 
They are very destructive to the woodwork of houses and furniture, and 
some destroy books and collections of dried plants and insects. The 
genus Anobiwm sometimes strikes its jaws upon the wood in which it 
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