revision of the Lampyridaj. 105 



Head black, autennre of half the length of the body, 

 fuscous, thorax closely subrugosely punctured, transversely, 

 subquadrate, front angles rounded, hind angles sub- acute, 

 base sinuate. 



The male has the two apical, the female the sub-apical 

 ventral plates white, shining, and diaphanous. 



Senegal ? ; coll. Gorham. 



Ohs. — I am not sure of the locality ; this species may 

 be the same as discicoUis, Cast. 



Photueis, Leconte, Proc. Ac. Phil. v. 337. 

 Type, P. pennsylvanica, De Geer. 



The determination of the species of this genus is attended 

 with almost as much difficulty as those of Photlnus. The 

 adoption of Dejean's catalogue names is one principal 

 cause of the confusion that exists. Motschulsky gives 

 hectica, Fab., as the type of PJioturis, Dej. No doubt it 

 would have been well if Leconte had taken one of the 

 larger tropical species for a type ; but it is more than 

 doubtful if Dejean's reference of hectica v^^as correct, for 

 I do not think it possible to join his biguttata with it. 

 Hence I think it necessary to consider the North American 

 species the type. I think the best plan is to reject the 

 Dejeanian names altogether. I give references to his 

 names for the sake of those collections that have them, 

 but it must be uncertain whether they refer to the same 

 species or not. It must ever be a misfortune to have had 

 them at all. 



The genus will divide into sections by the structure of 

 the claws : Sec. I.— Claws simple. Sec. 11.— Claws split in 

 the male, simple in the female. Sec. III.— External claw 

 split. Sec. IV. — All the claws split. 



All these agree in having a Telephoroid aspect. The 

 head is exserted, the elytra very soft, and apt to curl up 

 when dry ; the thorax, however, is, unlike that of Tele- 

 2)horida', semicircular, with hind angles usually produced, 

 and the diaphanous segments arc very conspicuous and 

 white. In Sec. I. I cannot discover the sexual distinction, 

 unless it is in some species in which one sex has only a 

 luminous spot on the fifth plate, the other the whole of 

 the fifth and sixth luminous. In Sees. II. and III. the 

 males have larger eyes, and the apical ventral plate pro- 

 duced into a long acuminate lobe, reaching the apex. 



