INSECTA. 
351 
conncct(3(l solely with the former. Luminous saeeules were 
placed in oil and in wateL when no effect was produced on the 
luminosity. Strong acids and alkalies caused the cessation 
of the light. The same effect was produced by glycerine ; but 
on washing this away with water^ the luminosity recommenced. 
In vacuo the luminosity ceases^ but it recommences on the ad- 
mission of a little airi In carbonic-acid gas the light becomes 
very dull. 
PASTEbE. Note s aria Ihmiere phosphorescente des Cucujos {Py- 
rophorus), et sur Pabsence de raies dans le spectre fourlii par 
Cette lumiere. Comptcs llendus, 18Gd^ 2® senieStre, p. 509. 
SciitiLTZE, Max. Ueber den Ban der Leuchtorgane der Mann- 
clien A^on Lampyris splendidula. (On the structure of the 
luminous organs of the male of Lampyris splcndAdula.) 
Verhaiidl. naturh. Vereins preuss. Klieiiil. und Westphal. 
1864, (Sitziingsber.) pp. 61-67. 
Professor Schultze describes the luminous organs of Lampyris 
splendidula as consisting of two separate thin laminae of a 
white colour, each occupying nearly the whole width of a seg- 
ment. The organs are situated immediately beneath the skin 
of the ventral surface of the penultimate and antepenultimate 
segments of the abdomen ; their upper surface is contiguous to 
the last two ganglia of the ventral chain, and here also are 
situated large tracheae and the greatly developed sexual organs. 
Each luminous organ thus receives its numerous and finely 
divided nerves and tracheae from tlic dorsal surface. The author 
describes the intimate structure of the laminae, and indicates 
the existence in them of a new structural element, to which he 
gives the name of terminal cells of the tracheae [Traclieenend- 
zellc'ii ) . 
General Notes. 
Thomson (Skandinaviens Coleoptera) adopts the following 
broad classification of the Coleoptera. The w hole order is di- 
vided into fifteen great sections or series, most of Avhich are 
identical, or nearly so, w ith the primary divisions of Latreille, 
namely Carnivori, Falpicornes, Amphihii ( = Gyrinidae, Ilete- 
roceridae, Parnid?e, &c.), Prachelytra, Clavicornes , Lamellicornes , 
Plaiysoma ( = Cucujidac and Trogositidae), (Colydiid?e, 
Ptinidae, &c.), Fungicola, Serricornes, lIeiero7nera, Rhynchophorij 
Longicornes, Phytophagi, and Apliidophagi. 
The Seri'icornes, which occupy the first 232 pages of Thom- 
son's sixth volume, published last year, are divided, in accordance 
with Latreillc^s system, into tAvo stiipes, Siernoxi and Malaco- 
dermi, and these again into numerous families, tribes, and sub- 
tribes. The Sternoxi include Buprestidee, Melasidce, and Lla- 
