affecting the Turnips, Corn- Crops, ^'c. 
217 
Part II. 
My last Memoir concluded with the history of the true Wire- 
worms; but 1 am inclined to believe that some of the followmg 
insects, belonging to the same family, may ccmtribute in their 
larva state to the injury of the field and garden ; and, as they are 
constanily found in corn-fields in the beetle state, figures and de- 
scriptions of them cannot be unacceptable to the farmer; these I 
shall therefore now lav before him, hoping that they may lead to 
a more perfect knowledge of their economy. I shall afterwards 
proceed to give an account of the other animals which appear to 
assist, with the larvae of the Elaters, in the destruction of the 
crops, bv attacking the roots of the turnips, &c. ; all of which 
have been incorrectly denoininated Wireworms by the cultivjitor. 
Order Coleoptera, Family Elaterid^f:. 
No. 5 is an Elater which I frequently observe in corn-fields; 
I find it also under stones, I have taken it oft" birch-trees in 
Avoods, &c. Its appearance lasts from the end of April tinlil 
August, but nothing is known of its economy or of the VVireworm 
which it produces. It is called 
Elater (Lepidotus) holosericeus. Fab.,* the satin-coated Click- 
beetle. It is elliptical or boat-shaped, deep brown, thickly and 
minutely punctured, and clouded with silky ochreous pubescence : 
antennae scarcely so long as the head and thorax, slightly pubes- 
cent, eleven-jointed ; basal joint the stoutest, somewhat chopper- 
shaped, and chesnut coloured ; 2nd, minute ; 3rd, long and slender^ 
clavate ; 4th and six following produced internally, obtrigonate, 
apical joint elongate-ovate, apex narrowed (fig. a) ; head small; 
palpi and eyes black ; thorax convex, semi-ovate, concave before, 
broadest at the base, which is bisinuated, the angles produced, 
each forming a strong trigonal lobe, not very acute ; pectoral lobe 
rather small and tapering ; scutel large and orbicular ; elytra 
more than twice as long as the thorax, and scarcely broader at the 
middle, the ochreous pubescence often forming two ocelli on the 
disc ; nine punctured striae on each elytron, most distinct at the 
base ; costa emarginate towards the base ; wings ample ; legs short, 
slender, and pale ferruginous; length 5, breadth 2 lines (fig. 31). 
6. This Elater is found in corn-fields and in sandy places at the 
same periods as the foregoing species ; but whether its larva, or 
Wireworm, is injurious to the crops, I am unable to state ; it is 
named 
Elater (Agrypnus) murinus. Linn., the mouse-coloured Click- 
beetle. It is rather broad and boat-shaped, entirely clothed with 
• Vide Curtis's Brit. Ent., fol. and pi. 694 for dissections, &c. of the Eia- 
teridae ; and the Guide, Genus 309, for an arrangement of the species. 
