PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 137 



ness of philosophers, no less than the curiosity of 

 children ; but that which is a mystery to the latter 

 is still a secret, or nearly so, for the others." 



Lampyris hemiptera is a rarer insect with us, 

 but it is met with, nevertheless, now and then. 

 It is black and small, its body being rather elon- 

 gated, its elytra or wing-cases conical, and the 

 extremity of its abdomen yellow. 



Lampyris italica, both sexes of which are 

 winged, which is not the case with the two fore- 

 going species, the females of which have no wings, 

 sheds a very brilliant light ; it inhabits Italy and 

 Southern Europe, but has been accidentally met 

 with in England and Belgium. Lampyris splendi- 

 dula and L. mauritanica are found in the South of 

 France, and L. corusca in Russia. 



An error, that has become popular, has held 

 ground regarding glow-worms. It has been 

 stated and persisted in, that the males of the dif- 

 ferent species of Lampyris have not the faculty 

 of emitting light. Now it has been shown long 

 ago that this opinion is inexact. An English na- 

 turalist, Ray, was the first to observe that the 

 male of our L. noctiluca shone in the dark. Geof- 

 froy afterwards found that this male insect has 

 four small luminous points, two upon each side of 

 the abdomen : and Miiller confirmed his observa- 

 tion. The male insect of L. splendidula and that 

 of L. hemiptera show a very brilliant light when 



