332 
COLEOPTERA. 
Elaterid^.— Click Beetles. 
The hind angles of the thorax usually produced backwards. A pros- 
ternal process received in the mesosternum. Antennce 
often serrate or pectinate. 
A very large family of small or large beetles recognizable usually 
at sight from the very striking general facies peculiar to the family. 
The large forms, which are half an inch 
and more in length, are in many cases 
brightly coloured, the small forms, of 
which there are a great number, in dull 
tints of brown or yellow. The antennae 
are moderately long and of varied form. 
The head is small and embedded in the 
solid prothorax. The prothorax is 
remarkably large and powerful, fitting 
loosely but accurately to the elytra, the 
lateral angles prolonged backwards. On Flg * 211 *” Agrypnus fuscipes. 
the ventral surface is a process, which 
passes into the mesosternum in which is a cavity fitted to it. The 
abdomen is long, covered by the hard elytra ; the legs are moderately 
long and formed for running. The striking structure of the prothorax 
is associated with the faculty many of the beetles have of leaping up 
with a click when placed on a flat surface with the venter upwards. 
Although these beetles are common everywhere in India, and there 
is an abundance of species, practically nothing is actually on record "as 
Fit?. 212.—L 411VA OF AGRYPNUS FUSCIPES. 
(From Westwood.) 
to the life-history. We figure from Westwood a larva possibly that 
of A grypnus fuscipes , the commonest large Elaterid of India. We are 
not aware that any species has actually been reared, though larvae that 
are probably of this family can be found commonly enough. The known 
