March, igi/] WiLLIAMS : NoRTH AMERICAN LaMPYRID.E. 13 



1912), and by Mast (1912), among others in this country. I can add 

 but little to their observations. The males of Photinus consanguineus 

 are on the wing shortly before 8.00 P. M., and a half hour later the 

 flashing is at its height, while after 9.00 P. M., there is a decrease. 

 The female crawls up some weed or grass stem and emits a single 

 strong, diminishing flash in response to the three or four flashes at rather 

 long intervals, of the male, which may be flying nearby or perched 

 on an adjoining weed. I can do no better than to quote Mast (p. 267- 

 268) : " The luminous or photogenic tissue in the female as previ- 

 ously stated is confined to a small area on the ventral surface of the 

 third segment from the end. Just before the female glows in re- 

 sponse to the flash of light produced by a male she raises and twists 

 the abdomen so as to direct the ventral surface, the source of light, 

 toward the male. If the male is directly above she twists the abdomen 

 nearly through 180 degrees, if to the right or left through 90 degrees, 

 etc. Only when the male is directly below does the female glow 

 without twisting the abdomen. These responses occur in the western 

 Maryland species, almost invariably, and they are so striking that 

 they cannot be readily overlooked." This species flashes but once 

 in either sex. Further observations by McDermott show that dif- 

 ferent species of Photinus have a characteristic mode of flashing. In 

 Ph. consanguineus, in the few instances under my observation, the 

 male, in response to the female, would alight near the latter and 

 search about excitedly, flashing in the meantime, and the female would 

 respond in a rather feeble manner to the male, but a few inches away. 

 Often considerable time elapsed before the male found his mate. 



Neither sex was observed to eat anything, nor could the stomach 

 contents of alcoholic specimens be determined. Bowles (1882), 

 speaking of Lampyris noctiluca, a European genus allied to Photinus, 

 says : " The perfect insect is herbivorous and feeds only on the 

 tender leaves of plants; but the larva is voracious in its habits, de- 

 vouring snails, slugs and soft-bodied insects." 



Ph. consanguineus oviposited readily in captivity, but the number 

 of eggs laid by a single specimen was not ascertained. The eggs are 

 deposited among fine grass roots or a short distance in the soil. The 

 tgg measures about 0.750 by 0.666 mm. It is dull creamy white, and 

 smooth under a hand lens. A thin membrane with oil-like dots en- 

 velops the chorion. The &gg is at first quite soft and often consid- 



