466 



COLEOPTERA. 



d 



Fig. 429. 



like, the much smaller male has broad elytra and a rather nar- 

 row slender body. 



In the genus Photinus, of which there are numerous species 

 in this country, the antennae are compressed, or nearly filiform, 



and the species differ 

 from those of Lampy- 

 ris, by the females 

 having wings. Nearly 

 all have phosphor- 

 escent glands in the 

 last abdominal seg- 

 ments. < . 



The editors of the "American Entomologist," p. 19, give 

 the history of P. pyralis Linn. (Fig. 429 ; a, larva ; e, under- 

 side of a segment ; /, head ; d, a leg ; 6, pupa in its cocoon of 

 earth ; c, the adult) . The larva lives in the 

 ground, feeding on earthworms and soft bodied 

 insects. When fully grown, or during the latter 

 part of June, it forms an oval cavity in the earth 

 and pupates, and in ten days becomes a beetle. 

 In Plioturis the wings and elytra are complete 

 in both sexes, while the head is narrowed behind, 

 and the labrum is distinct. P. Pensylvanica De- 

 Geer (Fig. 430, and 431, larva) is our most com- 

 mon species, and the larva figured I regard as 

 belonging to this species. It is not uncommonly met with in 

 the evening shining brightly as it crawls along, and is blackish 

 and crustaceous like a pill bug. Another Photuris 

 larva (Fig. 432) I have fbund under a stone in 

 May. It is represented as in the act of walking, 

 the feet on one side of the body moving alter- 

 nately with those on the other. This is 'the mode 

 in which insects usually walk. 



Fig. 433 (enlarged three times) represents a 

 very singular larva, evidently belonging to this 

 family, and related to the genus Drilus. It was 

 found by Rev. E. C. Bolles, at Westbrooke, Maine, under 

 leaves, and it probably, like other larvae of this family, is 

 carnivorous. Its body is very flat, with the sides of the head 



Fig. 433. 



