66 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. iv. 
against insectivorous nocturnal animals. If we dissect or crush a Luciola 
it gives out a disagreeable cabbage-like smell, and perhaps this is suffi¬ 
cient to render it inedible to bats or other nocturnal animals. An acrid 
taste they certainly do not possess. 
It has long been known that the eggs of fire-flies, both Lampyridce 
and Pyropliorus , are luminous. Both Newport and more recently Wie- 
lowiejsky attributes the luminosity not to the contents of the egg, but to 
the portions of the fat-body cells or fluid covering on the outside of the 
eggs, due to ruptures of the parts within the body of the female during 
oviposition. The larvae at different ages are also luminous. 
The position of the luminous organs changes with age. In the 
larvae of Pyrophorus before moulting, according to Dubois, the luminous 
organs are situated only on the ventral side of the head and prothoracic 
segment. In larvae of the second-stage there are added three shining 
spots on each of the first eight abdominal segments, and a single lumin¬ 
ous spot on the last segment. These spots are arranged in a linear 
series and thus form three luminous cords. In the adult beetles there 
is a luminous spot in the middle of the first abdominal sternite, but the 
greatest amount of light is produced by the two vesicles on the hinder part 
of the prothorax, the position of which varies according to the species. 
Literature. 
Peters, W. —Ueber das Leuchten der Lampyris italica. (Muller’s Archiv 
f. Anatomie, 1841, p. 229-233.) 
Kolliker, A. —Die Leuchtorgane von Lampyris, eine vorlaufige mittheilung. 
(Verhandl. d. phys. medizin. Gesellsch. Wiirzburg, 1857, viii, p. 217-224.) 
Schultze, Max. —Ueber den Bau der Leuchtorgane der Mannchen von 
Lampyris splendidula. (Sitzber. d. niederrhein. Gesellsch. f. Natur. u. Heilkunde zu 
Bonn, 1864, Sep. p. 7.) 
-Zur Kenntniss der Leuchtorgane von Lampyris splendidula. (Archiv 
f. mikroskop. Anat. 1865, i, p. 124-137, 2 pi.) 
Wielowiejsky, H. Ritter von.— Studien iiber die Lampyriden. (Zeits. f. 
wissens. Zool. 1882, xxxvii, pp. 354-428, 2 pi.) 
Emery, Carlo. —Untersuchungen iiber Luciola italica L. (Zeits. f. wis¬ 
sens. Zool. 1884, xl, pp. 338-355, 1 pi.) 
-La luce della Lticiola italica osservata col microscopio. (Bull. Soc. 
Ent. Ital. Anno 17, 1885, pp. 351 - 355 * 1 P 1 -) 
Heinemann, C. —Zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Leuchtorgane Mexikan- 
ischer Cucujos, Pyrophorus. (Archiv f. mikroskop. Anat. 1886, xxvii, pp. 296-383.) 
Dubois, R. —Contribution a l’etude de la production de la lumiere par les 
etres vivants. Les Elaterides lumineux. (Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1886, Annee 
ii, pp. 1-275, 9 pk) 
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