COLEOPTERA. 



M5 



tawny yellow and red, varied in many cases with black spots and bands, being- the 



predominant colours throughout the family. They are found on the flowers and 



leaves of trees, and are sometimes seen in great 



abundance ; and it is said that they secrete a 



nauseous liquid, which gives them immunity 



from the attacks of insectivorous animals. 



The Lampyridce are remarkable on account 



of the luminous properties possessed by nearly 



all the species. In these insects the head is 



small and, being retracted under the pronotum, 



generally invisible from above ; the eyes are 



large, especially in the males, the mandibles 



small but sharply pointed, and the antennae come 



off close together from the front of the head. 



The phosphorescent organs are situated in the 



abdomen, their position being shown in most of 



the species by pale yellowish or whitish arras 



on the ventral surface of certain of the segments. 

 These beetles are found in nearly all parts of the 

 world, though most numerous perhaps in Tropical 

 America, In Lampyris and certain other genera 

 the females are frequently apterous. The female of 

 Lampyris noctiluca — our native glow-worm — is not 

 only without wings, but has even no trace of elytra, 

 so that in appearance it is not unlike the larva 

 of the same species, though it may be distinguished 

 by its broad semicircular prothorax, its more fully 

 developed legs, and much greater luminosity. In 

 the genus Luc kola — which is represented by two 

 or three species in South Europe — both sexes are 

 winged, and the males are even more luminous than 

 the females. 

 The Telephoridce are distinguished from the two preceding families in having 



the head more exposed, the bases of the antennae more widely separated from one 



another, the pronotum 



somewhat square in shape, jii m 



the maxillary palpi ending 



in a hatchet-shaped joint, 



and the mandibles longer 



and often bifid at the end. 



or toothed on the inner 



side. Some of them are 



among the commonest and 



most familiar of our in- 

 sects, — being known to 



schoolboys as " soldiers 

 vol. vi. — 10 



Chalcophora mariana and larva 

 (nat. size). 



Agriot and its larva the well-known wire-worm, 



enlarged, but the larva shown also nat. size.) 



(Both much 



