60 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



found to be males, and did not respond satisfactorily to the electric 

 light. 



Only rarely was attraction between the sexes in this species 

 noted, and as mentioned in a previous paper, it is very rarely that 

 pairs in couple are seen or taken. On account of the great num- 

 bers of the insects, and their habit of flying quite high, it is very 

 difficult to follow closely any particular individual or pair. On 

 one occasion a male and female were confined in a tube for some 

 time, hoping that mating would take place; the male flashed irregu- 

 larly, in single flashes, and the female appeared to answer him, 

 but although she ceased to light and became quiet whenever the 

 male touched her or ran over her back, he appeared to pay no at- 

 tention whatever to her, and no mating was observed. 



Mr. Barber informs the writer that he has frequently noticed 

 dim, fixed points of light in the woods at night, which on investiga- 

 tion, proved to come from the luminous organ of a small adult Pho- 

 tinus that was being devoured by an adult Photuris, the latter in 

 each case appearing to be a female. In several cases where a 

 male and female of Photuris were confined together to secure eggs, 

 the male was found to have been devoured during the night. 

 These appear to be natural habits of the insect, both of which the 

 writer has been able to conform. Mr. Barber also states that he 

 has been informed by Mr. Harry L. Parker, of Hagerstown, Md., 

 who has observed the pupa of this species, that in addition to the 

 anal lights, there is a constant light emitted from the pupal pro- 

 thorax, which persis.ts through the teneral adult stage, but disap- 

 pears as the beetle hardens. 



3. Pyractomena lucifera Melscheimer. Experiments on the 

 evening of May 15, on the attraction of the males of this species 

 to a flashed electric light, were entirely negative. A lamp shielded 

 with a leaf was not used at this time, but was tried later, still with 

 negative results. 



4. Pyractomena angulata Say. A male of this species was 

 captured at the writer's residence on the evening of June 13; when 

 in flight it gave a series of short, dim flashes, not unlike those de- 

 scribed for the pregnant or hungry female Photuris, but fainter 

 and of a decidedly orange colour. (See fig. 6). No attraction 

 to the flashed electric light was noted. A female of this species 



