106 



THE ORDER OP COLEOPTERA. 



[ Fig- 48. ] most distinctive character is the 



extension of the thin thoracic 

 margin, which is narrow in the 

 other sub-families, but is here ex- 

 panded so as, in most cases, to 

 completely cover the head. It is 

 in this sub-family that we find 

 ^'S1,'rfy:'^Snin'i:;feeie''rri™^^ remarkable for their 



;a;lbefSnf;:T;tte^^^^^^ or phosphoresccut pro- 



perty, which is possessed by no other insects except a few of the Elate- 

 rid?e.* This property is located in one or more of the segments on the 

 under side of the abdomen. The luminous power is intermittent, being 

 exhibited by flashes, and is evidently controlled by the will of the insect. 

 It is a vital phenomenon, and consequently ceases after death ; but the 

 luminous segments can be distinguished in the dried specimen by their 

 uniformly yellow color. 



The historic and poetic gloiv-icerm is the wingless female of the Euro- 

 pean Lampyris noctiluca^ Linn. But in most of our species both sexes 

 are furnished with wings. 



The Lampyrides are nocturnal insects, being sluggish by day, and 

 found sometimes on the ground, and sometimes resting upon the foliage 

 of trees, or upon the palings of fences. But at night they launch out 

 upon the wing, sometimes in immense numbers, especially in low mea- 

 dows, which they illuminate with their multitudinous flashes of phos- 

 phoresence. 



The following are the principal genera : 



A. Elytra complete, except in some wingless females; head wholly or partially covered by the 

 thorax. 



B. One or more ventral segments, pale yellow, .and luminous in the living insect. 



C. Antennas dilated and compressed ; the abdominal segments of the males lobed at the sides ; the 



last segment only luminous Lucidota, 3 sp. 



C C. Antennas slender ; the abdominal segments simijle ; one to three last segments luminous : 



PnoTiNUS, 26. 



A A. Elj'tra much abbreviated and attenuated ; head exposed ; antennas branched ; phosphorcsence 



uncertain PHEN<iOi >es, 2. 



The Lucidota atra, Fab., supi^osed to be the same as the laticornls 

 of the same author, is a common insect. It varies from three to four- 

 tenths of an inch in length, and is of a deep black color, with the mar- 

 gin of the thorax pale yellow. The genus Fhotimis, Laporte, contains 

 most of our lightning beetles. The P. pyraliSj Linn., (Fig. 48,) is half 

 an inch or a little more in length, blackish, thorax with yellow margin 

 and red disk, with a blackish spot in the center ; the elytra have a uar- 



* We should perhaps also except the Fulgora lanternaria of S. America, and the F. candelaria, and 

 the JBuprestis oeellata of China, and a few other insects which have been reported to possess luminous 

 properties. But the testimony with regard to all of them is very conflicting, even with respect to the 

 lirst mentioned, the lumiuousuess of which has been generally believed. 



