466 



COLEOPTERA. 



Fig. 429. 



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

 row slender body. 



In the genus Photinus, of which there are numerous species 

 in this country-, the antennaj are compressed, or nearl3- filiform, 



and the species differ 

 from those of Lampy- 

 ris, b}' 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 ; b, 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 

 l^art of June, it forms an oval cavity in the earth 

 and pupates, and in ten days becomes a beetle. 

 In Photuris the wings and elj'tra 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 brightl}^ 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 



Fig. 433. 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 larvre of this family, is 



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



Fig. 431. 



