PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 137 
ness of philosophers, no less than the curiosity of 
children ; but that which is a mystery to the latter 
is still a secret, or nearly so, for the others.” 
Lampyris hemiptera is a rarer insect with us, 
but it is met with, nevertheless, now and then. 
It is black and small, its body being rather elon- 
gated, its elytra or wing-cases conical, and the 
extremity of its abdomen yellow. 
Lampyris italica, both sexes of which are 
winged,—which is not the case with the two fore- 
going species, the females of which have no wings, 
—sheds avery brilliant light; it inhabits Italy and 
Southern Europe, but has been accidentally met 
with in England and Belgium. Lampyris splendi- 
dula and L. mauritanica are found in the South of 
France, and L. corusca in Russia. 
An error, that has become popular, has held 
ground regarding glow-worms. It has been 
stated and persisted in, that the males of the dif- 
ferent species of Lampyris have not the faculty 
of emitting light. Now it has been shown long 
ago that this opinion is inexact. An Hnglish na- 
turalist, Ray, was the first to observe that the 
male of our L. noctilwea shone in the dark. Geof- 
froy afterwards found that this male insect has 
four small luminous points, two upon each side of 
the abdomen: and Miiller confirmed his observa- 
tion. The male insect of LD. splendidula and that 
of L. hemiptera show a very brilliant hght when 
