l82 



AA^ ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



rarely very numerous, and may be kept in check as recom- 

 mended on a previous page for the Cucujidce. 



There are other small famihes in the clavicorn series, some of 

 them interesting enough to the entomologist, but none of im- 

 portance economically 

 or likely to attract the 

 attention of the cas- 

 ual observer ; hence 

 hardly subjects for de- 

 scription here. 



The Serricoryiia, or 

 "saw-horned" series, 

 begins with the family 

 DascyllidcE, contain- 

 ing mostly small forms 



Tenebrioxdes corticahs, the "cadelle." — a, larva; ^. r j j j 



adult; c toy, structural details. louud ou dead or dy- 



ing trees or branches, 



in which the larvae probably live. None are of economic im- 

 portance, a fact which is also true of the next family, Rhipiceridcs . 

 This latter, indeed, contains only five species, all accounted 

 rarities in collections, and believed to breed in cedars. 



The family ^/(2Z'm'^/<:^, "spring-beetles," "click-beetles," or 

 " snapping-beetles," contains numerous troublesome forms, and 

 is easily distinguishable in all its stages. The beetles have the 

 prothorax very loosely jointed to the rest of the body, and on 



the under side a curved 

 process fits into a cavity 

 of the meso-thorax. 

 When a specimen is 

 placed on its back it 

 bends the extremities so 



An Elater from side, to show the prosternal process. . • , n 



as to raise the middle of 

 the body from the surface, and to bring the tip of the curved 

 process to the edge of the cavity. A sudden release of muscular 

 tension reverses matters, sends the insect into the air a few inches, 

 and this "snapping" or jumping performance is repeated until 

 it alights on its feet. In the larval stage the term " wire-worms" 

 expresses the appearance and texture of the creature, and brings 

 to mind at once an agent of destruction hardly surpassed in the 



Fig. 163. 



