? 
358 .  Phosphorescent Insects. Their Metamorphoses. [June, 
As illustrating another phase of metamorphosis, I will mention 
a short-winged male which still retains the larger eyes and more 
brilliant pigment after they have probably ceased to be of service, 
pointing to its comparatively recent degradation, and illustrating 
what Dr. J. LeConte calls “ a structure which has outlived its 
usefulness.” The eyes are no doubt retained for awhile by inherit- 
ance, but we may safely conclude to be eventually modified. 
The preceding remarks have applied only to structures and 
functions, but at each stage of change in these, corresponding 
variations have taken place in the coloring of different parts, from 
black to pale yellow. 
In one species the strong-winged male is of a dirty brown, coarse- 
ly porous, and finely pubescent on the elytra. The apterous female 
is a pale buff, glabrous, concolorous; thus, in accordance with the 
laws appertaining to the different conditions, evolution was ar- 
rested in the apterous imago at the color series which belongs to 
the larva, apparently a simpler process than that which a change 
of color would imply. This possibility is intimated by Agassiz in 
his “classification upon embryological data” when he says that 
the beetle preserves the character of the larva of other insects, 
assuming only wings and more fully developed legs without 
reaching other successive metamorphoses. There are lesser 
stages as represented by the different species, enabling us to link 
the family in a successive chain from an original pair to this seem- 
ingly new creation. This is probably the resultant of an effort at 
race-preservation, a product of the wear and destruction of indi- 
viduals into conditions which enable them to perpetuate their 
race until such time as shall favor their reversion to the original 
type. The more interesting phenomena of phosphorescence wit- 
nessed in this sub-family will be the subject of another article; 
and it may be proper here to remark, that the researches of the 
writer, both in the field and the laboratory, have been made, not 
with a view to fortifying any particular theory, but for the pur 
_ pose of discovering truth as it is manifested in nature, and apply- ‘ l 
ing it to the ever-varying phenomena of insect life. 
iat eae REST EES sch eee a A e Ey 
o TaN gh ee EER RO nce ee epee e a cng a pe eee eam Sse 2 Seats 
gee he 
