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 ^lay, is the Elater (^Ludiiis) 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 wing-covers are finely punc¬ 
tured, and have very slender impressed longitudinal lines 
upon them; the claws are not toothed beneath. This beetle 
usuallv 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 hrevicornis^ the short-horned. The 
larvae 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 
Fi". 29 . now known to inhabit Massachusetts, I shall 
add to the foregoing a description of only one 
more species. This is the Elater QAgriotes) 
ohcsus^ 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 
dirtv v^llowish-grav hairs, which on the wins;- 
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.] 
