ii6 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



spots, preferring those which are slightly damp. It 

 is very abundant in Kent, and in the summer even- 

 ings the green-blue lamp of the Glow-worm may be 

 seen shining amid the leaves. If examined in the dark 

 the light is seen to proceed from the three last seg- 

 ments of the body, the under side of which emits the 

 light in a wavering, uncertain sort of way, the fact of 

 being handled seeming to alarm the insect and cause 

 it to retain the light-giving power. Sometimes, in- 

 deed, it puts out its lamp altogether when handled, 

 the light being evidently under the control of the insect. 

 It is said, however, that if a Glow-worm be placed in 

 oxygen gas the light is greatly intensified, and the 

 Beetle seems unable or unwilling to retain it. Gilbert 

 White, in his ' Selborne,' remarks that the Glow- 

 worms put out their lamps between eleven and twelve 

 P.M., and shine no more for the rest of the night. 



The dissimilarity between the sexes of the Glow- 

 worm is very strongly marked, the female being 

 entirely wingless, while the 

 male has large wings and 

 elytra which cover the whole 

 of the body. It is popularly 

 thought that the male does not 



Lampyris noctilus (male and P OSSeSS the Hght-giving pOWCF J 



female). fo u t j-^jg j s a mistake, as every 



practical entomologist must know. Still, though the 

 male does possess a lamp, it is very much smaller and 

 feebler than that of the female, and, instead of a mass of 

 phosphorescence, throwing a radiance of some inches 

 in extent, it is nothing more than two tiny spots of 

 light, no larger than minnikin pin's heads. I once 



