THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 401 



area of field where there were known to be a number of females of 

  pyralis, the match, during the flare of the chemical '"head," being swung 

 in an arc in imitation of the dipping flight and flash of the ma.\e pyra/is, 

 and being extinguished as soon as the head burned out. /;/ eac/i instance 

 the fiash of light from the match was foltozved, within two to five seconds, 

 by the flashes of females of pyralis in the surrounding grass and weeds. 

 Most of them flashed at the end of about four seconds. They did not 

 flash in the intervals between the lighting of matches, except in response 

 to the flash of a passing male, and in no case did any number answer a 

 male, as they did to a match. 



By the use of a small electric bulb, connected to a battery and push- 

 button a few feet away, it was found quite as easy to deceive the male 

 pyralis; the bulb is placed so that most of the light is thrown 

 downward by the back of the lamp, and the circuit kept open until a 

 male flashes within about two or three feet of the lamp. Then after a 

 pause of three to five seconds, the circuit is closed through the push- 

 button, so as to imitate as nearly as possible the answering flash of the 

 female. If the male is in a position to see the light of the bulb, 

 he will almost invariably drop, and repeating the process will bring him 

 up to the bulb ; usually he will crawl around and over it excitedly, for a 

 few minutes, and then fly away. Sometimes males would crawl up grass- 

 stems above the bulb, and apparently looking over the edge of the 

 blade, hold i)erfectly still for a moment, and then flash ; the instant 

 the bulb was flashed in answer they would commence to wave their 

 antennae rapidly, and crawl quickly down the blade and toward 

 the bulb. Early in the flying period of an evening, as many 

 as a dozen males have been thus attracted in a few moments. 

 Flashing the electric light bulb immediately after the flash of the male, 

 without the pause of a few seconds, was observed to be less effective in 

 attracting them, though some would still come to the bulb when operated 

 . thus. The same apparatus may be used to excite the answering flash of 

 the females, when the bulb is waved in an arc during the closing of 

 the circuit. 



One or two facts regarding this species — and to some extent they 

 apply to many other Lampyrids — are of interest in this connection. The 

 light of the males in flight is directed by the position during flight and by 

 the reflecting layer of the photogenic organ, for the most part forward and 

 downward; the eyes of the male are much larger than those of the 

 female ; the flash of the female is of such a character, and the organ so 



