LIGHT-GIVING COLEOPTEROUS LARVA. 



419 



tween them was likewise soft, not horny, but not entirely while, 

 thus differing from the basal joints of the antennse and the palpi. 



The body of the larva is not perfectly cylindrical, but rather 

 depressed, having an elliptical outline, and without a sharp margin ; 

 it is of a soft fleshy consistence, with horny plates on each seg- 

 ment, these plates beariDg the strong hairs or short bristles 

 already described. The segment immediately behind the head is 

 longer, rather trapezoidal, with curved margins, and entirely 

 covered by a single horny plate ; the two following segments are 

 the shortest of all ; the following segments almost imperceptibly 

 increase in length, till we come to the last, which is somewhat 

 trapezoidal, being much attenuated posteriorly, where it emits 

 the anal tubus, which serves as a short, very mobile, accessory 

 organ of movement. 



On the three segments, which correspond to the thorax of the 

 imago, are attached three pairs of rather long, but thin (and very 

 active) legs, each composed of five different joints (fig. 4, magnified). 

 The first joint is the stoutest, and articulated to the body near 

 the middle of the underside of each segment ; it is directed back- 

 wards and somewhat outwards, reaching as far as the end of the 

 segment. After this first joint, corresponding to the coxa of the 

 perfect insect, follows the short, oblique, truncate trochanter, and 

 then the cylindrical femur, which is the longest joint of all ; arti- 

 culated to its end is the rather shorter and thinner tibia, termi- 

 minating in a single mobile hook, which corresponds to the tarsus 

 and unguis of the imago. 



No other particular external organs are visible except the spi- 

 racles, which form nine black dots on each side of the body : — the 

 first on the prothoracic segment, near the margin, behind the first 

 pair of legs ; the other eight on the fifth to twelfth segments, im- 

 mediately before the outer margin of the horny dorsal plates. 



The animal was brought to me by a friend, who had taken it 

 in rotten wood ; it moved about very actively, defending itself from 

 all attacks by. its rapid movements, opening its sharp-pointed man- 

 dibles, and closing them instantly if any object was submitted to 

 its bites ; it perforated with ease the skin of my fingers. In its 

 movements it turned the end of the body against the enemy, 

 slinging it from side to side, and ejecting from the anus a clear 

 reddish-brown fluid, which had a corrosive effect upon my skin. 

 During all this time it was emitting light, visible even in ful 

 daylight, but which was of course more perfect during the night 



