COLEOPTEUA. 345 



Now the mandibles and labrum are exposed. 



Here the antennae of the males have a flabelliform termination. 

 They form the 



Hemirhipus, Lat. 



Of which all the species are foreign to Europe(l). 

 There, these organs, in the same sex, are longitudinally pecti- 

 nated. 



Ctenicera, Lat.(2) 

 In the following subgenus or 



Elater, properly so called, 



The antennae of the males are simply serrated(3). 



E. noctilucus,L,.', Taupin cucujo, Oliv., Col., II, 2, 31, 11, 14, 

 a. Rather more than an inch long; dusky-brown, with a ciner- 

 eous down; a convex, yellow, round, shining spot on each side of 

 the thorax near its posterior angles; elytra marked with lines 

 of small punctures. From South America. 



During the night, the thoracic spots diffuse a very strong 

 light, sufficiently bright to enable one to read the smallest cha- 

 racter, particularly if several of the Insects be placed in the same 

 vase. By it also the women of the country pursue their work, 

 and Ladies even use it as an ornament, placing it in their hair 

 during the evening paseo. The Indians fix them to their feet 

 to light them in their nocturnal journeys. Brown pretends that 

 all the internal parts of the Insect are luminous, and that it 

 has the power of suspending, ad libitum, its phosphoric pro- 

 perty^). The French colonists call it Mouche lumineuse, and 

 the Indians, Cucuyos, Coyouyou, whence the Spanish term Cu- 

 cujo. An individual of this species, accidentally transported to 

 Paris in some wood, in its larva or pupa state, completed its 



(1) Elater Jlabellicornis, Fab.; E. fascicidaris, Id., &c. 



t2) The Elut. pectinicornis, cupreus, Jtxmatodes, Fab.; the Taupin doublecroix, 

 Cuv., Kegn. Anim. IV, xiv, 3. 



(3) The anterior extremity of the head is sometimes on a level with the labrum, 

 or on the same horizontal plane; at others it is more elevated, and terminated 

 suddenly; but these differences, frequently imperceptible, cannot be used to esta- 

 blish generic sections my genus Ludia requires a re-examination. 



(4) M. de la Cordaire who has examined the living Insect informs me that the 

 principal reservoir of the phosphoric matter is situated inferiorly near the junction 

 of the thorax with the abdomen. 



Vol. III. 2 T 



