THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 285 



it appear to be in it. It is not surprising, however, that one 

 who had seen the insect in life and been the sender, should 

 have a more vivid recollection regarding the envoi than the 

 receiver, who could at the utmost have seen no more than 

 such an insignificant brown morsel as that exhibited. Both 

 Mr. John Miers, jun., and Mr. Frank Miers speak of the spe- 

 cimens they saw being larger than this preserved one ; about 

 an inch in length is their estimate, while the latter is little 

 more than half an inch. 



It is probably to an allied species that Lieut. Oliver, R.A., 

 refers in a paper " On two routes through Nicaragua," which 

 he read at the Meeting of the British Association, at Dun- 

 dee, in 1867. He says : — "At night the fire- and lantern- 

 flies were magnificent. They exhibit, when at rest, only two 

 pale green lights on each side of their head; when excited 

 or in motion, the abdominal light shines bright, of a more 

 reddish hue, and the quicker they fly the brighter the light. 

 A lovely glowworm, too, we saw, with similar lights, but 

 smaller; on being touched, a series of minute sparks like 

 pearls scintillated down its entire length in two rows." 

 —(p. 21). 



The above accounts seem to show that the larva was full 

 of luminous matter, that the luminous matter was white, and 

 that it appeared red on the head from shining through the 

 chitinous texture, whereas its natural while light was seen 

 when the animal in its breathing or motion opened the port- 

 holes of its spiracles. That the light was not seen through 

 the rest of the surface of the body as through the head, 

 would of course be due to the greater thickness of the chiti- 

 nous and muscular covering. 



Now this general occupation of the body by the luminous 

 matter is the one point on which there is some coincidence 

 with the firefly. The light in the glowworm is limited to the 

 terminal segments of the abdomen ; in the firefly, on the 

 contrary, the light occupies, besides the spots on the thorax, 

 where they are most observed, the whole interior of at least 

 the middle of the body ; and wherever there is a chink or 

 joint the light streams through. This is a fact noticed by 

 every one who has observed them in their native country. 

 On bending the body and raising the elytra, a much more 

 intense light is seen to exist in the interior than in the two 



