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REPORT ON ZOOLOGY, MDCCCXLIV.

the Buprestis mariana. In regard to the question, as to the position of thespiracles in the larva of this family (s. Rep. 1843, p. 134) Lucas (ibid.) andDufour (p. 204) have made further researches.

Elatekides. —Germar (Zeitschr. v. 133) has continued the examinationof this family, in the course of which the difficulty of finding determinateand well-characterized groups has become still more sensible, strengtheningthe conviction that a natural arrangement of the family must rest on consi-derations different from any hitherto applied. Such can be come at onlythrough a comprehensive and profound study of the whole, which makes ourobligations to the author the greater for the pains which he has taken withthem.

The article under review treats of a pretty natural group of Elateridse,having the feet simple without membranous flaps, the forehead curvingdown but with a rim in front, and the thigh-covers [the hind pair of hips]dilated internally. The genera are four: 1. Cryptohypnus [false orthography!];feelers filiform, with the base joint long and thickened; feet with long bristles;containing besides the proper Cryptohypnus (formerly Hypolithus ), Esch.,in which the scutel is broad (17 species), also Oophoms, Dej., with the scu-tel oval, with which Brasterius, Esch., is joined (12 species.) 2. Ampedus:feelers slightly serrated from the fourth joint, feet with scattered hairsbeneath; contains 40 species, among which limbalis, Hbst., with stronglyserrated feelers, and darsiger (Brasterius id., Dej.), with the hairs of the feetlong and close set, differ from the rest, and A. semiflavus might be referredto the genus Melanoxmthm. 3. Ischnodes, new genus, the type of which isEl. sanguinicollis, Pz., with the feelei-s serrated from the third joint. 4. Apha-nobius: differing from all the foregoing by the feelers distinctly twelve-jointed (11 species). The author then examines several species related tothis group, but with flaps to tire feet. El. acuticornis, Germ. Spec. \Ampe-dus nigellus, Dej.], in other respects agreeing with ischnodes, has a flap tothe third joint, and the fourth is minute. Amp. signalicollis, Dej., comesclose to it also, but the second and third joints are here broader and almosttriangular. Amp. fulcus, Redt. (Col. Austr.), agrees with Ampedus, only thethird joint has a large flap, and the fourth is very minute. In conclusion,the genus Melanoxaxthm, Esch., is discussed, and it is shown that Escholtz’sdescription of the first joint of the foot, as not much larger than the second,does not apply to El. melamcephalus, E. [given by Dejean as an example.]It appears to me that this genus, which is closely allied to Ampedus, ischaracterized principally by the very narrow thigh-covers, and the feelersmuch compressed from the fourth joint. The feet are elongated in M.melanocephalus, E., and 4 -guttatus. Er., shorter in Amp. semiflavus, Germ.In other respects this last agrees well with the others, and seems to be betterplaced in this genus than in Ampedus.