CRATOMORPHUS.—ASPIDOSOMA. 53 
The underside (with the exception of the prothorax, the margins of the sternal 
plates, the legs, and two luminous segments) is pitchy. The tarsi and greater part of 
the tibiee are also pitchy. ‘The elytral costee are but little pronounced. 
The smaller specimen is the smallest Cratomorphus that I have seen, and has large 
eyes like those of a male; the apical segment, however, is divided by a small notch like 
that of females of other species, and is the seventh plate; so that I cannot doubt the 
sex. Excepting in the points specified, the description is that of the specimen figured, 
in which the head is retracted within the thoracic cavity, and the eyes appear to be of 
normal size. 
ASPIDOSOMA. 
Aspidosoma, Gemminger and Harold, Cat. Col. p. 1645. 
Aspisoma, Castelnau, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1833, p. 145. 
Nyctophanes, Motsch. Etud. Ent. i. p. 34 (1852). 
This is one of the best-defined genera among the Lampyride. ‘The upper surface is 
shield-shaped, depressed, and expanded; the integuments are rather firm, so that they 
are not so often shrunken as in other genera. 
They do not attain the size of the Cratomorphi, but they are apparently strongly 
luminous in both sexes, the males being most developed in this respect; some of the 
species are quite small, and then resemble small Photint. Others of moderate size 
remind one a good deal of Casside of the genera Physonota or Aspidomorpha. 
The distribution of Aspidosoma is confined to Tropical America. A species has 
been recorded from Buenos Ayres; and it is probable that the genus extends rather 
further south than the tropic of Capricorn. It is also found in the West-Indian 
Islands. 
1. Aspidosoma laterale. 
Lampyris lateralis, Faby. Syst. El. ii. p. 106°; Voet, Col. i. t. 48. f. 3. 
Hab. Nicaragua, Chontales (Belt) ; Costa Rica (Van Patten).—SoutH AMERIcAl. 
The determination of the species of this genus is a matter of great difficulty, even 
with fresh, bright specimens; unfortunately the few specimens of this in the Central- 
American collections are not sufficiently fresh for me to feel very confident about them. 
They are 15-17 millims. in length, acuminate in front and behind, of an obscure 
dirty horn-colour. None of the markings are distinct; those which in these specimens 
accord with others in my collection referred to L. lateralis, Fabr., are a subhumeral 
patch on the expanded margin, and a narrow spot a little beyond the middle of the 
margin, leaving an oblique pale space between them, not exceeding in length one 
quarter of the elytral length. Two slightly raised nervures are very little paler than 
the ground-colour. The discoidal patch of the thorax is divided by two distinct 
red lines. 
