COLEOPTEEA. 501 



The females have no wings, while the males have them, and 

 possess very well developed elytra. The females resemble the 

 larvae much, only they have the head more conspicuous, and 

 the thorax buckler- shaped, like the male. The larvae feed on 

 small molluscs, hiding in the snails' shells after having devoured 

 the inhabitant. They also possess the phosphorescent property 

 in a less degree than the adult females. The female pupa 

 resembles the larva ; the pupa of the male, on the contrary, has 

 the wings folded back under a thin skin. The perfect insect 

 appears towards the autumn. 



The Glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca, Fig. 548) is of a brownish 

 yellow. It is common in England. In a kindred species, the 



Fig. 548. Lampyris noctiluca (male and female.) 



Ludola Italica, the two sexes are winged, of a tawny -brown, 

 and equally phosphorescent. They are met with in great 

 numbers in Italy, and the lawns are covered with them. Other 

 insects of this family are without the faculty of emitting light ; 

 as for example, the genus Lyons, of brilliant colours, which are 

 met with in Africa and India. One of the finest is the Lycm 

 latissimus. 



Drylus is another genus, comprising insects of very singular 

 habits. The type is the Drylus Jidwscens. The male a quarter 

 of an inch long, black and hairy, with elytra of a testaceous 

 yellow, and provided with antennae and long filaments for a 

 long time was alone known. The female from ten to fifteen 

 times as large, without wings and elytra, of a yellowish brown 

 was not discovered till much later, having apparently nothing 

 in common with the male in shape or colour. The metamor- 

 phoses of these curious insects are now perfectly understood. 

 Mieczinsky, a Polish naturalist established at Geneva, found the 

 Drylus in the larva state in the shell of the Helix nemoralis. 



