241 



ilies preserve the usual ratio of cold climates ; while the ducks, 

 divers, and beach birds are what we should naturally expect to 

 find in the neighborhood of the largest and finest sheet of fresh 

 water in the world. 



Dr. Silas Durkee exhibited two specimens of the Com- 

 mon Glowworm, {Lampyris noctiluca,) which were found 

 in Dedham, Mass. He remarked that the Glowworm is 

 not the larva of an insect, but the perfect female of a 

 winged beetle, from which it is so different that nothing 

 but actual observation would lead one to infer that they 

 are different sexes of the same insect. 



The specimens exhibited have a small flat head, furnished with 

 antennae about half a line in length, and when examined with a 

 common pocket magnifier, are seen to consist of two colors, white 

 and chestnut, alternating. They do not appear to have the power 

 of producing or extinguishing the light at will. Their brilliancy 

 is less than that of the Elater noctilucus, two specimens of which 

 Dr. D. exhibited several months since. Dr. Durkee said that he 

 had watched these glowworms during an interval of about nine 

 hours, commencing at eight o'clock in the evening. The pe- 

 culiar faculty of producing light began to show itself between 

 the segments of the body and at the large spiracles or stigmata, 

 which may be seen in connection with the rings ; there being two 

 of these spiracula to each segment, and twenty -four in all. From 

 about eight o'clock to midnight, the light along the rings and at 

 the spiracles was much more brilliant than it was through the 

 segments themselves. But during the latter part of the nio-ht, 

 the light was equally diffused throughout the entire length of the 

 worm. This was the case in both specimens. And during this 

 distribution of the luminous power, or property, nothing could 

 be seen of the spiracula, or of the segments or joints. The 

 worms appeax'ed as if they were two fused masses of beautiful 

 phosphorescent light ; sometimes at rest, sometimes assuming a 

 variety of shapes, according to their slow and graceful move- 

 ments. The luminous properties were displayed at first through 

 a few of the spiracula and a few of the joints, while all the 

 rest were in a condition like that which is maintained during 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. VI. 16 OCTOBER, 1857. 



