648 NEW SPECIES OF LAMPYRID^E, 



up-turned lateral margins testaceous, each with four slightly- 

 raised costae which are abbreviated before the apex ; interstices 

 broad; the 1st and 2nd costae united, or with a tendency to unite, 

 posteriorly. Underside piceous, except the prosternum, meso- 

 sternum, and the sides of the metasternum, which are dusky- 

 testaceous, and the last two abdominal segments and the genitalia, 

 which are yellowish-white. Legs with the femora dusky tes- 

 taceous ; the tibiae and tarsi pale fuscous. Length 6J-7 J mm. 



Mt. Wilson, Blue Mountains, N. S. Wales (3,478 feet), in 

 January ; and at Sydney, Kiama, &c. 



^ Unknown, 



I think it probable that this particular fire-fly, or one of its 

 allies, is the " New Holland Species," which Carus,* as long ago 

 as 1824, stated, on the authority of Long, to be possessed of a 

 light which varies in intensity in " rhythmical vibrations." 



A single Lampyrid larva found by me at Mt. Wilson in 

 January, under some decaying wood is probably the young of 

 A. lychnus. When it was captured it was in a very torpid state 

 and showed no sign of luminosity, but I am assured by Mr. J. D. 

 Cox, a careful observer who has passed many summers at Mt. 

 Wilson, that a larva which he has found on several occasions and 

 always regarded as the larva of the fire-fly, is faintly but distinctly 

 phosphorescent, the light being continuous and not intermittent 

 like that of the perfect insect. A comparison of my specimen 

 (which is briefly described below) with those obtained by Mr. Cox 

 has convinced me of their identity, so to say the least the evidence 

 is strongly in favour of the assumption that these larvae are the 

 early stage of A. lychnus. It will be for future observers to deter- 

 mine if this is really the case by rearing the mature insect from 

 these luminous larvae. 



Larva of A. lychnus f?) : Elongate, flattened, much narrowed 

 both in front and behind, piceous, somewhat shining ; the Lst 

 thoracic and the last three abdominal segments rusty brown ; the 



* Oken's Isis, II., p. 245. 



