COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 167 



to one sex, but its absence was more probably caused 

 by a languid state of the animal. The light is far 

 more beautiful in colour, and greater in power, than 

 the mild secretion of the glow-worm ; and the sub- 

 stance, if removed from the beetle immediately after 

 death, will remain luminous like phosphorus, on the 

 objects on which it is placed. 



" It is to be hoped that others will be induced to 

 bring these insects over alive earlier in the season ; 

 for there can be little doubt that they would live 

 through a warm summer in this climate. I do not 

 despair therefore of seeing our fair countrywomen 

 at home, as well as abroad, employing these living 

 gems to add to the splendour of their attire. At 

 the Havannah they are collected and sold for orna- 

 menting the ladies' head-dresses at evening parties, 

 when they are, I understand, generally confined 

 under gauze which covers the head, and from among 

 the ringlets of hair these terrestrial stars shine forth 

 with all their beauty."* 



ELATER PORCATUS. 



PLATE VII. Fig. 2. 



Fabricius — Olivier, ii. No. 31, pi. 7, fig. 74 — Chalcolepi- 

 dius porcatus, Esch — Dejean. 



The body of this insect is of a shining black, but 

 it derives its superficial colour from a coating of 

 * Zoological Journal, vol. iii. p. 379. 



