138 BRITISH BEETLES. 



mora ; and the head produced into the form of a rostrum, 

 and covered by the prothorax. 



They are conspicuous for their flattened appearance ; 

 long and ample elytra, with diminished head and thorax ; 

 bright colours, and peculiar reticulated sculpture. 



Dictyopterus Aurora (Plate IX, Fig. 2) is found, at 

 Rannoch, in Perthshire, on the under sides of felled 

 pine-trees, or among the half-rotten heaps of chips left 

 by the woodman. It is a sluggish species, and is readily 

 captured, not attempting to escape, though it flies hea- 

 vily towards the evening : the sexes remain coupled for 

 some time, the male being the smaller of the two, with 

 longer antennse, and having a deep semicircular notch 

 on the hinder margin of the last abdominal segment. 

 The larva of an allied species has been found under bark 

 of dead trees, where it feeds on other insects, etc. : it is 

 black, with a red tail ; elongate, very flattened, leathery, 

 with slender mandibles which are placed very close to- 

 gether, and having two recurved hooks and a retractile 

 prolongation at the apex of the body. 



The LAMPYRID^: are closely allied to the last family, 

 from which they differ, however, considerably in outward 

 appearance ; in the mostly apterous state of the female; 

 and in the presence of the power of emitting phospho- 

 rescent light. Their palpi, also, are of different struc- 

 ture ; the eyes more developed ; the head more entirely 

 hidden by the rounded prothorax ; and the intermediate 

 coxse more approximated. The " Glow-worm," Lampyris 

 noctiluca, is the sole British exponent of this family. 

 The males are sometimes very slightly luminous, and 

 are considerably rarer than the female; they may, 

 however, be taken by sweeping at night in grassy places 

 where the other sex is found, sometimes having been 



