nie of the researches oi McDermott, and most kindly offered to go 

 with me that evening and see if we coald make out anything of the 

 sort for ourselves. We arrived on the ground before sunset, and 

 very shortly afterwards observed the first flashes of the lightning- 

 bugs. Owing to the lingering daylight the flashes appeared very 

 feeble, and for some time we were able to observe the motions of 

 the beetle itself apart from the flash of its lamp. It would remain 

 hovering over the grass, rising and falling gently the while, remind- 

 ing one somewhat of the dancing movements of a mayfly above the 

 surface of a stream, and at each dip flashing its light. These were 

 the males searching for the females, and occasionally we were able 

 to detect the answering flash of a female in the grass below. As 

 the darkness increased the flashes became brighter, and we were 

 distinctly able to detect differences in them ; some would be redder 

 or yellower, and others greenish, some sharper, others more pro- 

 longed, and by capturing the sources of them we found that we bad 

 three different species, Photiiris pennsijlrcniiciis, I'lintinus jn/rali-'^ and 

 /'. viariiindliifi {'?), all flying together over the same ground, and 

 with very little practice we were able to recognize each species by 

 its light alone. 



The time of courtship of these insects is apparently brief, and is 

 for the most part over by the time it has become really dark. The 

 insects then rise higher from the ground and fly more actively 

 about, so that by the time the fireworks display is at its brightest 

 it is too late to observe their mating habits. No doubt the main 

 reason for my previous failure in this direction was that I did not 

 start early enough in the evening. Unfortunately, this night at 

 Washington was the last occasion that I had for observing them at 

 all, so that I was unable to proceed any further on the lines of 

 McDermott's researches. 



Mr. E. E. Green" has published notes on the use of the light by 

 certain species of luminous beetles in Ceylon. Of these, one, 

 La'tiprop/uinis tenebrosiis, Walk., belongs to the Lampyridte properly 

 so-called. The female of this species is apterous with a ventral 

 subteruiinal light-organ which she exposes much in the manner of 

 our glow-worm. The male, though normally brilliant, approaches 

 a " calling " female with the light shut oft', its advent being heralded 

 only by the partial extinction of the light of the female. 



The other species mentioned by Mr. Green present certain marked 

 differences from normal Lampyridae in the emission of their light as 

 well as in structural points, and have been placed in a separate 

 family, Rhagophthalmidpe. Concerning the light of Dioptoma ailaiiisi, 

 Pasc, Mr. Green notes the larviform female was observed to recurve 

 the body over the back so as to expose the ventral subterminal light 

 organ. On the approach of the male the light was partially 

 eclipsed and the tail turned down. The male at the time was not 



* " Trans. Ent. Soc," 1912, p. 717. 



