ELATER, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Coleoptera : an tenna filiform, lodged in a groove under the head and thorax : underside of the thorax terminating in an elastic spine, placed in a cavity of the abdomen; by which means the body, when placed on the back, springs up and recovers its na tural posture. This genus, which is ex tremely numerous, is divided into two sections, viz. A. feelers hatchet-shaped ; and B. feelers clavate, the club round. Of the latter only three species are men tioned, but of the former two hundred at least have been enumerated. In point of size, the European species are not comparable to those which are natives of the tropical regions. Among the most remarkable may be mentioned E. flabelli cornis, which is more than two inches long, and is a native of India, and of many parts of Africa. E. noctilucus, found in South America, and called there cocu jas, is not so large as the last, but the spots on the thorax, like those on the ab domen of the glow-worm, are highly lumi nous, diffusing- through the night a bril liant splendour, by which the smallest print may be read, and eight or ten of them in a phial will afford a light equal to that of a common candle. Many spe
cies of the elater are natives of our own country; but they are seldom distinguish ed by any brilliancy of colour, and are far inferior in size to the exotic ones. E. tesselatus, so called from the manner in which it is marked, is not uncommon in the fields during the middle of summer. The larva of these insects are of a slen der form, and devour the roots of the grasses. That insect, so destructive to newly sown French beans, the wire worm, is thought to be the larva of the E. obscurus.