2 3 o OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



cocking up its head and tail in a most threatening 

 manner, opening and shutting its powerful jaws, 

 and, if greatly excited, thrusting out from the 

 end of its abdomen two little bladders from 

 which it ejects a volatile fluid having a most 

 unpleasant odour. The larva very much re- 

 sembles the adult insect, but has neither wings 

 nor wing-cases. It hides away under the shelter 

 of stones and logs during the daytime, coming 

 forth at night to seek its prey. 



A sight which always awakens feelings of 

 interest during a country ramble on a warm 

 summer evening, is that of the greenish-blue 

 phosphorescent light of the Glow-worm, which 

 shines out so brilliantly from the hedgerow in 

 the gathering dusk. This strange, mysterious 

 light which glows so strongly, yet is practically 

 destitute of heat, shines forth from the last 

 abdominal segments of the body of the beetle 

 for the Glow-worm belongs to the Coleoptera, 

 its scientific name being Lampyris noctiluca. It 

 is the female that glows with the greatest 

 brilliancy, her greater luminosity making up for 

 her lack of wings, and enabling her to attract 

 from afar the attention of her winged mate, who 

 has this same remarkable light-producing power 

 developed in a lesser degree. In the early spring 

 the female Glow-worm deposits her yellowish, 

 slightly phosphorescent eggs, from which the 

 young soon emerge. The larvae have elon- 

 gated flattened bodies of a dusky hue, and are 

 very voracious. They are really very useful 

 little creatures, for they eagerly attack and 

 devour snails. As the summer advances they 



