130 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Oct. 



"The snow-worm in the vicinity of Washington and at 

 Detroit, Mich., is the larva of Telephorus hilineatus which is also 

 a common species throughout Canada. You will find figures 

 of both larva and imago of this species in Riley's Fourth Missouri 

 Report, page 29. The genus Telephorus contains many closely 

 allied species and it is possible that some of them may have the 

 same habit as T. bilineatus." 



Occurrences of Telephorid larvae on snow, similar to the 

 above, have occasionally been recorded in the United States. 

 Dr. Lintner, the late State Entomologist of New York, in his 

 Eighth Report (1891) refers to a remarkable appearance of the 

 larvae of Telephorus which were thought to be the species 

 bilineatiis. In this instance the larvae occurred at Center, N.Y., 

 in millions about February 10th during a rain. The snow was 

 literally alive and black with the "worms," for a distance of 

 about half a mile long and about twelve rods wide, while beyond 

 this strip the larvae were abundant in every direction, but to a 

 less extent. They were active on the snow for a few days. In 

 the article on these insects Dr. Lintner says: "The explanation 

 of the larvae appearing on the .snow would be, that they were 

 drawn from the ground by the (warm ?) rain, and with the change 

 of rain into snow, they continued, with its increasing depth to 

 mount to the surface, as other larvae have been known to do." 



Telephorus hilineatus is a common northern species, and it 

 is most probable that the larvae which were noticed on Prince 

 Edward Island were of this species. The larva of T. bilineatus 

 is of a rich velvety-brown colotir; the body is narrowed at each 

 end, and the segments are distinctly divided. The late Dr. 

 Riley in the report referred to above, by Dr. Howard, treats of 

 this insect as an enemy of the Codhng Moth, one of the worst 

 pests of the apple grower. It is also a well known enemy "of 

 the larvae of the Plum Curculio, when these enter the ground to 

 pupate." 



The Telephorids belong to the family Lampyridae, known 

 popularly as the fire flies which are familiar to almost everyone. 

 Kehogg, in "American Insects," writes of the Lampyridae as 

 follows: "The light-giving organ is usually situated just inside 

 of the ventral wall of the last segment of the abdomen, and 

 consists of a special mass of adipose tissue richly supplied with 

 air-tubes (tracheae) and nerves. From a stimulus conveyed by 

 these special nerves oxygen brought by the network of tracheae 

 is released to unite with some substance of the adipose tissut--, a 

 slow combustion thus taking place. To this the light is due, and 

 the relation of the intensitv or amount of light to the amount of 

 matter used up to produce it is the mo.st nearly perfect known 

 o physicists." 



