62 



LUMINOUS-BEETLES. 



FAMILY LAMPYRIDAE. 



{Fire-flies and Soldier-beetles). 



It is scarcely necessary to describe fire-flies, as they are so 

 well known, at least in their adult or winged state. Children 

 living in the country have seen these beautiful objects flying 

 over low places, such as marshes and wet meadows, or have 

 observed them in the l)ushes growing along streams, ponds or 

 lakes ; they have seen the flashes produced by them along 

 the borders of forests, or in the orchards nearer by. But chil- 

 dren in the large cities have no opportunity to admire such won- 

 derful phenomena, excepting, perhaps, in the larger parks. The 

 flashes of light are given off at regular intervals, both during 

 flight and when at rest in the grass. In some cases both male 

 and female insects are luminous ; in others it is only the one 

 sex. and in still other instances, as in the so-called "glow-worm," 

 the female is wingless. 



When we look more carefully at these nocturnal beetles, we 

 find that the terminal segments of the abdomen are of a bright 

 sulphur-yellow color on the under side, which, at the will of 

 the insects, glow with a phosphorescent light of considerable 

 power. Different species have such luminous spots arranged in 

 various ways, and some lack them altogether. The beetles are 

 of a soft texture, usuallv slender, scMuewhat flattened above, 



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