STAG-BEETLES, FIRE-FLIES, AND GLOW-WORMS. 



559 



Fig. 32. THE FIRE -FLY 

 (Pyrophorus noctilucus, Linn). 



species are not remarkable, but the larvae of the next family, 

 the Materidce, or click- beetles, are too well known to all Click-Beetles and 

 agriculturists as wire-worms. The beetles are often found Wire-Worms, 

 in corn, flowers, etc. ; they are about half an inch long, and 

 of various subdued colours. The hinder angles of the thorax are rather 

 pointed, and on the under-surface there is a strong spine pointing backwards 

 and fixed in a groove. If the insect is placed on 

 its back it bends its body, and uses this apparatus 

 to enable it to leap up with a clicking sound. 



Some of the larger foreign species of ElateridcB 

 rival the Bupresiidce in size ; but though some^ 

 times green, rarely exhibit the 

 same brilliant metallic colouring. Fire-Flies. 

 However, some of the larger 

 species are luminous, the species of Pyrophorus, 

 (111.), being the well-known tire-flies of Mexico 

 and the West Indies. Some of these emit two 

 different-coloured lights from different parts of 

 their body. Their body-colours are not con- 

 spicuous ; the species figured, Pyrophorus noctilu- 

 cus (Linn. ), is brown. 



The Malacodermi are another group, in which 

 the form is generally long and narrow, the integu- 

 ments unusually soft, the elytra being leathery 

 rather than horny, and the thorax often rounded 

 above. They are active insects, and of carnivorous habits. The most in- 

 teresting beetles of this section are the glow-worms, in which 

 the females are apterous. In our common yellowish green Glow- Worms, 

 glow-worm, Lampyris noctiluca (Linn.), both sexes of which 

 are here figured, the female, which is apterous, is most luminous ; and is 

 frequently noticed shining like a spark on a grassy bank 

 or under a hedge. An allied species is common on the 

 Continent, and may be seen flying about in the evening 

 like little sparks ; but the Italian fire-fly, which is also 

 a Lampyris, and which is not found north of the Alps, 

 is far more brilliant. 



In almost all the beetles, which we have hitherto been 

 considering, the tarsi are five- jointed on all the legs; 

 but we now come to the large group of ffeteromera, in 

 which the two front pairs of legs have five- jointed tarsi, 

 but there are only five joints to the hind tarsi. An- 

 other peculiarity of this group is that the antennae are generally moniliform ; 

 that is, consisting of a series of rounded joints looking like a string of beads. 

 They are generally of a black colour, and many of the species have much 

 resemblance to the Carabidw, from which either of the characters mentioned 

 will at once distinguish them. 



The Heteromera, though rather numerous, need not detain us very long, 

 but we may mention three or four of the more interesting species. The 

 cellar-beetles, which belong to the genus Blaps, are hard, 

 wingless beetles nearly an inch long, with the body ending Cellar-Beetles, 

 in a point, and of the colour of an unpolished boot. Black 

 as they are, they are not the * ' black-beetles " of our housekeepers, this 



Fig. 33. Fig. 34. 



GLOW-WORMS 



(Lampi/ris noctiluca, 



Linn.). 



