THE MALACODERMI. 139 



observed to fly to a lamp, after the fashion of moths. 

 They are dingy in colour, with a rounded thorax hiding 

 the head, ample wings under their elytra, and very large 

 eyes, resembling those of certain dipterous insects. The 

 female, on the contrary, has smaller eyes, and neither 

 elytra nor wings ; her body is flat, soft, and broad ; 

 and, in short, she considerably resembles the larva from 

 which she sprang, from which she differs in having the 

 ordinary femur, tibia, and five-jointed tarsi to the legs, 

 eleven-jointed antennae, and a broad flat semicircular 

 thorax : the larva, moreover, has distinct light-coloured 

 corners to each segment. The pupa of the female exhi- 

 bits but slight differences from the larva ; but that of 

 the male shows the ordinary rudiments of the future 

 members. The insect, both as an imago and larva, de- 

 vours small Mollusca (snails, etc.) ; and, when in the 

 latter condition, uses certain radii, protruded from the 

 anus, for the purpose of freeing the front of the 

 body from the dirt and slime caused by its habits of 

 feeding. 



The phosphorescent light has been observed in all the 

 stages and both sexes of this species ; but is especially 

 evident in the full-grown female, proceeding from the 

 under side of the abdomen at the apex, where certain of 

 the segments are lighter in colour than the rest. It 

 appears to be subject to the will of the insect, and is 

 brightest when the latter is found in damp places. 



The DRILID.E have their antennae distant at the base, 

 and serrated or flabellated ; the mandibles bifid, and 

 armed with a sharp tooth in the middle of the inner 

 side ; the head not covered by the prothorax, but in- 

 serted in it up to the eyes ; the clypeus confounded with 

 the head (as in the Lycidae, Lampyrida, and Telepho- 



