DEATH-WATCH & GLOW-WORM BEETLES 



treat for this interesting, but destructive, creature. 

 The noise is said to be made as a signal to attract each 

 other. It is a brown-coloured species, and one can 

 hardly credit that so small a creature is capable of per- 

 petrating such damage. Other species also attack fur- 

 niture and similar articles, and still another is a mark 

 on books, boots, and leather goods, if these have not 

 been used for any length of time and the larvae allowed 

 to carry out their depredations undisturbed. 



The Glow-Worm Beetle {Lampyris noctilnca Fig. i8). 



comes next, and belongs, like the Fire-Flies, to the 

 Lampyridt£. The males always have wings, but the 

 females are very unlike their mates, being grub-like. 

 Even the eggs are luminous, and, as is well known, 

 the adults are expert " lamplighters." Sometimes a 

 walk of a warm Summer's evening is reminiscent of 

 fairyland, so prettily is the herbage lit up with the soft 

 green lights of this species. Nearly all of them are 

 useful, as the prey mostly consists of slugs and snails. 

 Glow-Worms, it should be noted, are not the only 



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