114 INSECTS COLEOPTERA DIAGRAM 6 



fall to the ground. If they fall on the belly, they soon stretch 

 out their legs to escape ; but if they fall on the back, they are 

 then seen to unbend themselves like a spring, and jump to a 

 great height. If \ve take an elater, it is enough to lay it on a 

 table, legs uppermost, to see. how it acts. It first becomes rigid 

 and raises itself on its head and tail. All at once it unbends 

 itself ; the corslet and the base of the elytra strike the tables 

 and the rebound throws the insect into the air to a height of 

 several inches. If it falls on the legs, it runs away ; if it falls 

 on the back, it begins again. As it makes a slight noise on 

 unbending itself, it has been called the click-beetle. If held in 

 the hand, it attempts to perform the same manoeuvres ; and every 

 time it unbends, it emits a green liquid. The larvae of the click- 

 beetles are found under stones, in the ground. They are called 

 wire-worms, and often do great mischief by gnawing the roots of 

 corn. 



The glowivorm, which is found by the side of roads on warm 

 summer evenings, has no wings, and much resembles a larva. It 

 is however the perfect state of the female insect. The males fly 

 like other coleoptera ; they have four wings, two of which are 

 elytra. It is only necessary to put a few glowworms on a tuft of 

 grass at the window in the country to attract the males to fly 

 round them. On closely examining a glowworm, we may 

 ascertain that it is the interior of its body which is luminous, and 

 not the surface. On irritating the animal, it extinguishes this 

 light, and renews it when it is quiet. The glowworm is not the 

 only animal which emits light ; in hot countries there are other 

 insects which produce a much stronger light. Some fire-flies, 

 as the luminous elateridse are called in America, enclosed in a 

 small cage made for them, are sufficient to light a room. 



The Necrophori or burying beetles are a little smaller than the 

 cockchafer, which they resemble. They have black elytra 

 with yellow transverse bands. These insects owe their name 

 to their habits. When about to deposit their eggs, they seek 

 for some small dead animal, such as a rat, a mole, or a mouse, 



