268 Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Insects of Jamaica. 



XXVI. — On the Insects of Jamaica. By Philip Henry Gosse. 



[Continued from p. 202.] 



39. Calopteron bicolor. On the trees at the forest-edge, on 

 each side of the Harnpstead Road, this Lycus was excessively 

 abundant in June 1845 and 1846, particularly in the latter year. 

 Hundreds, I should judge, were sometimes on a single small tree. 

 They rested principally on horizontal branches from the height 

 of ten feet upwards. 



40. Pygolampis xanthophotis * (mihi) . 



41. Photuris versicolor. 



42 to 53. Twelve other species of Lampyridce, all luminous. 



The fire-flies of the tropics have been often described. The 

 Lampyridce are, in Jamaica, far more abundant than Pyrophorus 

 noctilucus. At all times, their sparks, of various degrees of in- 

 tensity, according to the size of the species, are to be seen, fitfully 

 gleaming by scores about the margins of woods, and in open and 

 cultivated places. Photuris versicolor, a large species with drab- 

 coloured elytra, I found abroad soon after my arrival, in De- 

 cember. One flying around the house, in the evening, I was 

 struck with its swift and headlong flight and nearly permanent 

 luminosity, which was much more brilliant than that of any spe- 

 cies which I had at that time seen. 



The large Pygolampis, to which, for precision's sake (as I have 

 a note concerning it), I have given a name, I did not meet with 

 until May, when one flew into the house at Bluefields in the 

 evening ; and two nights afterwards I observed it rather nume- 

 rous on the very sea-beach at Sabito. It was conspicuous for the 

 intensity of its light, much exceeding that of Photuris versicolor. 

 Sometimes it is only the last segment but two that shows lumi- 

 nosity, but when excited the whole hinder part of the abdomen 

 is lighted up with a dazzling glare. 



It is in the woods of St. Elizabeth's, in the month of June, that 

 I have seen the Lampyridce in their glory ; and particularly along 

 the road leading up the mountain from Shrewsbury to Content, 

 where it is cut through the tall forest, which overhangs it on 

 each side, making it sombre even by day, and casting an impe- 

 netrable gloom over the scene by night. The darkness here, 

 however, and especially at one point, a little dell, which is most 

 obscure, is studded thick with fire-flies of various species, among 



* This fine species may be thus described. Length 9 lines ; breadth 

 .'If lines. Elytra smoke-black; thorax drab, the central portion dark brown; 

 abdomen pale, the last three or four segments cream-white. Specimens in 

 Brit. Mus. 



