COLEOPTERA. 
56 
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 
da} s in April and May, is the Elater (Ludiuts) 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 bue ; the wing-covers are finely punc- 
tured, and have very slender impressed longitudinal lines 
upon them ; the claws are not toothed beneath. This beetle 
usually measures from four to five tenths of an iitch 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 
Fig. 29. n ow known to inhabit Massachusetts, I shall 
add to the foregoing a description of only one 
more species. This is the Elater (^A.griotes) 
obesus 8 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 
d’ rl y yellowish-gray hairs, which on the wing- 
covers are arranged in longitudinal stripes ; the head and 
[8 Elater (Agnates) obcsus. I am inclined to believe tins species to bo the Ela- 
ter mancus, Say, and not bis E. ubesus, which is now entirely unknown. Lite.] 
