436 SYNOPTIC COLLECTION. 



The female of Lampyris splendidula has neither elytra 

 nor wings ; these females, and the larvae of Lampyris 

 generally, are luminous and are called "glow worms," 

 though incorrectly, since they are not worms but true 

 insects. 



The Scarabaeidae represent the more typical Cole- 

 optera, many of whose larvae are cylindrical and six- 

 footed grubs. The type selected is the common June or 

 May beetle, Lachnosterna fusca Frohl. Its white larva 

 (No. 1090; PI. 1091, fig. i) lives in the earth. Its head 

 is small and chitinous, and the thoracic and abdominal 

 segments are wrinkled. This wrinkled appearance is 

 increased by the habit the creature has of coiling and 

 lying partly on one side (fig. i) in an irregular cavity 

 which it has formed. It also moves on one side, and 

 according to Lockwood 1 the larva of a closely allied form, 

 the brilliant goldsmith beetle, Cotalpa lanigera (No. 1093), 

 travels on its back with quite a rapid serpentine move- 

 ment. 



The grub is very destructive, eating the roots of grass, 

 corn, grain, etc. (PI. 1091, fig. 2). After two or three 

 years the larva makes a well defined oval cavity and lines 

 it with a secretion from its own body ; it then changes 

 to a pupa (fig. 3) in which the parts are free. Soon after, 

 the pupa becomes a beetle, which, according to Riley is 

 white and soft at first but remains in the earth until hard- 

 ened. Often swarms rise from the earth at once, and 

 begin immediately to eat the leaves of trees. 



The short body of the beetle (No. 1092 ; PL 1091, fig. 

 4, dissection -of same) like that of the other typical forms 

 is divided into the three regions. The head is small and 

 capable of being withdrawn under the prothorax so far as 

 the eyes ; when extended, the short neck allows the head 

 little freedom of motion, as compared with carnivorous 

 insects like the dragon-fly. The prothorax (fig. 4, /) is 



1 Amer. Nat., II, 1869, p. 190. 



