550 
ARTICULATA. 
which produce such a beautiful effect at night, during the close of summer and beginning 
©f autumn, iti our country, and which are still more brilliant in tropical regions. The JE. noc- 
tilucus, of South America and the West Indies, is over an inch long, of a brown color, and is so 
luminous that several of that species being put into a glass jar or bottle, give light enough to 
read by. The light is emitted from two large oval spots on the thorax. Other species of this 
family are remarkable for the metallic splendor of their colors ; of these, the Biiprestidce, very 
few are found in Europe ; but the American species are numerous, and often attain a large size. 
THE GIANT BUPRESTIS. 
The Giant Buprestis, B. gigantea of Guiana, is two inches long, and its body is of a green 
coppery color. It is so brilliant that the inhabitants make bracelets and other ornaments of 
it. The B.fasciata, of our country, is of a fine green color, and over half an inch long. 
THE MALACODERMATA. 
This terra is from the Greek malakos, soft, and doyna, skin, and is descriptive of most of the 
species. These are distinguished from the Sternoxia, by having the prosternum of the ordinary 
form, and not produced into a spine, posteriorly. Many of these, such as the European species 
familiarly called Soldiers and Sailors — Telephori — are predaceons in their habits, Avhile others 
are wood-borers, and some feed on dry animal substances. Of the wood-boring species, one, the 
Lymezylon navale^ infests oak timber, to which it frequently does incredible mischief in dock- 
yards. 
Other species, which also bore into timber in their larva state, are well known by the name 
oi Death- Watch — Anobium — from their habit of 
making a ticking noise by knocking with their jaws 
against the wood-work upon which they are stand- 
ing, this being the call of the insect to its mate. 
They are little creatures, which often do gTeat 
damage to furniture in houses. When touched 
they contract their legs and counterfeit death — a 
piece of mimicry they are said to keep up even 
when exposed to a heat sufficient to roast them. 
Another insect, the Atropos ^^wZsaiforms, which we shall hereafter notice, is also called Death- 
Watch. 
To this group also belongs the European Glow-Worm, Lampyris noctiluca, whose lamp 
has so often been the theme of the poet's song. The female is chiefly luminous. It is a flat, 
