288 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



families of Coleoplera as yet described or figured, however, I 

 can find none which quite suits the present form ; but I think 

 it comes nearer the Elateridae than any other. The form of 

 the head and mouth is nearer that of it. There are some of 

 the Heleromera which also come near it, and, curiously 

 enough, in a group of them which approaches the Elateridae 

 in form and appearance, as Serropalpus, Dircea, &c. Size 

 goes for little, as, unlike the perfect beetles, the larvae grow ; 

 and, besides, there are species of firefly small enough almost 

 to suit this larva. Another reason which inclines me more 

 than anything else to suspect that a species of firefly may be 

 the imago of the present larva, is the fact that we know no 

 other luminous beetle in Brazil except them and the glow- 

 worms ; and as the light is found to exist both in the larva 

 and imago in the only instances where we know both, it 

 seems an inference which we are boimd to admit as probable 

 at least, that it will be so in all. There should therefore be 

 in Brazil a beetle the larva of which emits light from every 

 exposed point ; and although a common light-giving larva 

 which lives in the heart of rotten trees may easily have 

 escaped detection, it is extremely unlikely that alight-giving 

 perfect insect, new in type, could possibly have done so. 

 There would thus be no other to refer it to except the fire- 

 flies. The extreme rarity of the larva, it having only been 

 seen twice by Mr. Fry, is also in favour of its habitat not 

 being known ; and the fact of its having been seen at all, 

 and, above all, creeping across the road, may have arisen 

 from the rotten branch in which it lived having been broken 

 off", and it dislodged from its natural position, and pounced 

 upon by Mr, Fry before it had succeeded in procuring a new 

 nidus for itself. This, however, is mere conjecture and 

 speculation ; the fact remains that, although apparently 

 allied to the Elateridae, it diflfers from their larvae in several 

 very material respects, and that in point of fact it was found, 

 not in wood, but creeping along the ground. Future obser- 

 vation must determine its true relations; and the first step to 

 doing so is for those entomologists who may have, the oppor- 

 tunity, to ascertain what the larva of the firefly really is. 

 It must exist in myriads ; and doubtless, if any one would 

 bring home (to their own house in tropical America we mean), 

 as our skilful collectors in Europe do, some stumps of wood 



