58 COLEOPTfcllA. 



a glass vessel, they give collectively as much 

 light as a candle. In the day time these in- 

 sects remain dormant, but in the night they 

 may be seen flying about on all sides. The 

 women work by their light, and the Indians 

 use them fastened to their sandals in their noc- 

 turnal excursions. Brown observes that the 

 whole internal part of the insect is luminous, 

 but that the light can escape only by the two 

 spots in the thorax. 



The larvae are but little known. The wire- 

 worm, so destructive to the roots of grass, is 

 said to be the larva of the Elater obscurus. 



SPECIFICATION. 



Elater balteatus. E. thorace atro, elytris anticc 

 . dimidiato rubris, corpore nigro. Linn. Si/st. Nat, 

 1. p. 654. Gmel. p. 1906. Fabr. Syst. Eleuth. 2. 

 p. 239. Spec. Ins, l.p. 271. Mant. \.p. 174. Ent. 

 Syst.Z.p. 229. 

 Schaeff, Icon. t. 77./. 2. 

 Panzer, Faun. Ins. Germ.fasc. 93. t. 9. 

 Inhabits Europe, and is found in underwood. 

 PI. 21. a. Natural size. b. Magnified, c. A feeler, 

 el. Antennae, e. e. The legs. 



