42 
Psyche 
[March 
tegument ; the antennae are of similar form except that the 
third joint has become more elongate and divided into five 
small joints, the mouthparts differ in numerous particulars 
and the legs have a 5-jointed tarsus.” In this same paper 
Blair gives a rather detailed description of the Sumatran 
larva, especially of the mouthparts and antennae, but no 
further details are included concerning the more minute 
structures in which the female differs from the mature larva. 
I have undertaken to do this for the two specimens before 
me as the matter is of considerable interest for it illustrates 
the great persistence of certain morphological characters in 
insects even when an almost complete degeneration of most 
bodily structures supervenes for one reason or another. In 
the great majority of cases among insects, or other animals, 
such great degenerative modifications or simplifications are 
directly traceable to parasitic life such as those shown, for 
example, by female Strepsiptera, parasitic earwigs and the 
like. Such is, of course, obviously not the case among the 
Lampyridae where numerous other examples of larviform 
adults are well known. These occur in more than one series 
of related forms, at least one of which, Phengodes, is often 
relegated to another family and in the family Lycidae where 
a closely similar condition exists in some Indomalayan gen- 
era. In the latter, as in Lamprophorous and its allies, a re- 
markable disparity in size between the sexes develops as the 
female becomes a ponderous creature in comparison with her 
diminutive, though normally proportioned spouse. 
The fully grown larva and adult female of Lamprophorus 
are of essentially the same size and general proportions. 
The larva is not particularly extaordinary for a Lampyrid 
and the structure of the head with its appendages and the 
legs are of normal form. 
The female differs most noticeably in its paler color and 
much more delicate integument which is far more flexible 
and apparently thinner. Ecdysis is complete as there is no 
indication of any bits or shreds of the larval cuticle still 
adhering to the surface of the body such as have been 
described by Mjoberg for one of the lycid “trilobite” larvae 
which he reared to maturity. The head in dorsal view is 
much narrower behind than in the larva, but otherwise the 
dorsal segments are essentially similar in shape and even 
