360 LUMINOUS ORGANISMS OF FAR EAST 



cent and pale brown in color, they live in the walls of native houses, 

 in the furniture or beds made of pandanus leaves. Palao people call 

 them Terai Was, or luminous paint, and think they are ear eaters, 

 although they are not poisonous. The animal discharges a very strong 

 greenish luminescent slime from both sides of the body segments 

 when irritated. If put into chloroform vapor, they secrete a luminous 

 mucus from every segment, which is very striking. One night in 

 1938 at Arumizu Village, Corror Island, Palao, I saw a centipede 

 caught in the web of a spider which was very beautiful in the lumi- 

 nosity of the discharged slime. 



Luminous Millipede 



Records of luminous diplopods or millipedes are few. I found a 

 self-luminous millipede in the Truk Islands of Micronesia in 1939, 

 from which no luminous bacteria could be grown. Takakuwa ( 1941 ) 

 gave it the name of Spirobolellus phosphoretis, a new species. The 

 whole body of this animal, with the exception of head and legs, emits 

 a weak bluish light which becomes brighter upon irritation, but it 

 excretes no luminous mucus as in the case of luminous centipedes or 

 earthworms. It is very common in the Truk Islands, and I saw it many 

 times during my stay of one week there. Many of them gather at the 

 base of coconut trees. Although the light intensity is no stronger than 

 that of mycelium of luminous fungi, the light can be recognized from 

 afar. Dr. Y. Kobayashi, mycologist, observed this luminous millipede 

 on Ponape Island, but I never saw it anywhere in tropical countries 

 except Truk. 



Insecta 



Fireflies 



Regarding fireflies in Japan, Yo. K. Okada ( 1931 ) reported 33 spe- 

 cies. However, as most of them live in Formosa, Okinawa, and Korea, 

 we can scarcely count more than seven species in Japan proper. They 

 are: Luciola cruckita Motschulsky, Luciola lateralis Motschulsky, 

 Luciola parvula Kiesenwetter, Pyrocoelia fumosa Gorham, Pijrocoelia 

 atripennis Lewis ( Amami-Oshima Island), Psilocladus variolosus Oliv- 

 ier, and Lucidinu biplagiata Motschulsky. Among them are Luciola 



