148 
Psyche 
[June 
of one, a greater number of joints in the antennse and less im- 
perfect eyes.” 
The source of this error of Sharp’s is difficult to find. As 
stated previously no such distinctions do exist as already pointed 
out by Haase and Riley and furthermore corroborated by Mr. 
Barber in a letter to me of recent date. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Nathan Banks I have had the 
opportunity of examining two larvae and a female of Phengodes. 
There can be no doubt about the error of Sharp’s statement. 
No such differences as pointed out by him exist. But on the 
other hand the differences between the female and the larva 
seems to be great. Whereas the fully grown larva is a pale- 
looking soft-bodied creature with a comparatively small head, 
the adult female in general appearance more suggestive of an 
Elaterid-larva, shows strongly chitinized, dark brown tergites 
with large, yellow, more or less square patches indicating the 
site of the luminous spots. The head in general and the man- 
dibles are much more strongly developed, as well as the legs. 
In many ways the female really conveys the impression of an 
imago. When preparing for pupation the Phengodes larva 
burrows itself down in the ground and rests for a period of several 
weeks. 
Like the Lampyrid Drilid and Telephorid larva the Phen- 
godes-larva is carnivorous, and according to observations feeds 
upon myriopoda of the family Julidse, which are often sub- 
terranean in their habits. 
The specialization via retrograde development in the Phen- 
godes female is thus carried to an extreme, the female being 
more vermiform than in the three previously mentioned groups, 
but still showing certain distinctions from the larva and still 
undergoing a pupal stage. 
Finally, in the fourth group, the Lycidse, both males and 
females are normally developed beetle imagines. Their larvse so 
far as known, are Lampyrid-like, carnivorous and in some cases 
at least gregarious. 
The only genus showing a tendency to develop reduced 
females seems to be Homalisus, the systematic position of which, 
however, does not seem to be definitely settled. Thus according 
