This brilliant little insect is extremely abundant amongst manuka, during the early summer. In general appearance it reminds one of a miniature specimen of the last species, but is more elongate in form; the green thorax and elytra are also much brighter. The latter are bordered with flashing crimson, the legs and under surface being reddish-brown, sparsely clothed with white hairs. A small Lamellicorn grub, found amongst refuse in manuka thickets, is probably the larva of this insect; it is less thickened posteriorly than that of _S. suturalis_, but otherwise closely resembles it. The perfect insect is diurnal in its habits, flying round flowering manuka in countless numbers on a hot day. The descent of thirty or forty of these little beetles on to the beating sheet, out of a single bush, is of frequent occurrence, and is particularly noticed by the New Zealand entomologist accustomed to the meagre supply of specimens offered in the majority of instances. Group STERNOXI. Family ELATERIDÆ. _Thoramus wakefieldi_ (Plate II., fig. 1, 1b larva, 1a pupa). This fine beetle may be taken under rimu bark in tolerable abundance, and is often observed flying about at dusk during the summer. Its larva inhabits rotten wood, usually selecting the red pine, in which it excavates numerous flat galleries near the surface of the logs. When disturbed it is very sluggish, the head being immediately withdrawn into the large thoracic segment and completely concealed. The legs are very minute, and are of but little use in walking, the insect being chiefly dependent for locomotion on its large anal proleg, which is furnished with numerous horny spines. When full-grown this larva closes up one end of {29}its burrow, and thus forms a closed cell, in which it is transformed into the pupa shown at Fig. 1a, remaining in this condition until the warmer weather calls the insect from its retreat. Two closely allied species are _T. perblandus_ and _Metablax acutipennis_. The former is occasionally found under the large scales on matai trees, and resembles the present insect in general appearance, but is much smaller and more elongate in form, its elytra being also ornamented with longitudinal rows of yellowish-brown hairs. The latter may be often taken on the wing in the hottest sunshine, and is chiefly remarkable for its elongate prothorax and pointed elytra; its colour is dark reddish-brown, ornamented with a few scattered white hairs. All these insects possess the singular habit of leaping into the air when placed on their backs, the last-named species exercising this faculty in a most marked degree. The movement is effected by the joint between the pro- and meso-thorax, the sternum of the former being elongated into a long process, fitting into a corresponding cavity in the latter, so that by means of the two being suddenly brought together, the insect is thrown high into the air with a loud clicking sound, hence the English name of the Skipjack or Click