28 
Thorax margined, and shorter than the head. 
Elytra flexible. 
The sides of the abdomen are furnished with papillæ, as in the 
Lampyris. 
The Cantharides are divided into two sections, those with the 
thorax somewhat broad and flat, which in the others are narrower, 
and rounded on the sides. 
The larvæ of this genus are like those of the Cerambyces, and 
have been found in decayed willows. For which information we 
are indebted to the learned botanist and entomologist Mr. William 
Curtis of London. 
GENUS XXL ELATER. Tab. 30 and 31. 
Linn. Syst. Nat. page 651. 
Their antennae are setaceous. 
An elastic spring or spine projects from the hinder extremity of 
the breast, or under side of the thorax. 
It is observed, all the species of this genus possess the following 
singular property : — 
The insect, when laid on his back, contracts the extremity of the 
abdomen and the head towards each other, whereby the body is 
considerably curved, and the spine on the breast is by that means 
withdrawn from the groove where it rested, in a part of the abdo- 
men, in its natural position ; then suddenly again inclining the 
body downwards, the spine is struck, with that effort, across a small 
ridge back again into the cavity from whence it was withdrawn, 
that by the shock the back of the insect is forced with such vio- 
i 
