200 Mr. P. H. Gosse on the Insects of Jamaica. 
in the very height of the summer afforded the only opportunity 
I had of examining this very singular region. 
27. Chrijsodema corusca. The Hampstead Road is the only 
locality in which I have found this brilliant insect ; but there in 
the latter part of May and the beginning of June it is very 
abundant. It is almost invariably found resting on the foot- 
stalks of the leaves of joint-wood and other tall shrubs that over- 
hang the sides of the road. When approached, though as yet 
the bush is untouched, each one warily shifts round, so as to 
keep on the opposite side of the stalk, exactly as the little Tet- 
tigonicB do on the stalks of grass. The moment a finger is put 
near it, down it drops ; so that we found the best way to capture 
it was to hold the ring-net beneath the twig and just tap the 
bush, when the beetle would drop into the net. 
28. Chrysobothris (sp. nov.). An exceedingly lovely little in- 
sect, green with crimson bands. I took it as it alighted from 
flight at Phoenix Park, near Savanna le mar, in April. 
29. Agrilus (sp. nov.). One of the fish-tailed group ; curiously 
marked with two large orange spots on each side of the abdomen. 
Taken in June, both at Sabito and on the Hampstead Road. 
80. Agrilus (sp. nov.). The thorax and forehead rich crim- 
son. Taken at Hampstead Road in June : a single specimen. 
31. Agrilus (sp. nov.). A pretty little black species, with the 
thorax and the tips of the elytra white. 
32. Pyrophorus noctilucus. From February to the middle of 
summer this beetle is common in the lowlands, and at moderate 
elevations. Lacordaire^s account of the luminosity of this Plater 
(known to me however only by the citation in Kirby and Spencers 
Introd. to Ent. ii. 333, 6th edit.) differs so greatly from the phse- 
nomena presented by our Jamaica specimens, that I cannot help 
concluding that he has described an allied but very distinct spe- 
cies, and I feel justified therefore in recording what I have myself 
observed. The light from the two oval tubercles on the dorsal 
surface of the thorax is very visible even in broad daylight. 
When the insect is undisturbed, these spots are generally quite 
opake, of a dull white hue ; but on being handled they ignite, 
not suddenly but gradually, the centre of each tubercle first 
showing a point of light, which in a moment spreads to the 
circumference, and increases in intensity till it blazes with a 
lustre almost dazzling. The colour of the thoracic light is a rich 
yellow-green. In a dark room, pitch-dark, this insect gives so 
much illumination as to cast a definite shadow of any object on 
the opposite wall, and when held two inches from a book the 
whole line may be read without moving it. The under part of the 
thorax has a singular appearance when the tubercles are fully 
lighted up ; for the horny coat of skin being somewhat pellucid. 
