
504 THE INSECT WORLD. 
to wheat-fields. They much resemble the meal-worm, or larva 
of the Tenebrio. The Tetralobites are the largest of the Elateride, 
attaining to a length af two inches; and are inhabitants of the 
East Indies and Africa. 
In America are found phosphorescent Elateride. These are 
the Pyrophori, which the Spaniards of South America call by the 
name of Cucuyos. They have, at the base of their thorax, two 
small, smooth, and brilliant spots, which sparkle during the 
night; the rings of the abdomen also emit a light. They give 
light sufficient to enable one to read ata little distance. The 
Pyrophorus noctilucus (Fig. 052) is very 
common in Havannah, in Brazil, in Guyana, 
in Mexico, &c., and may be seen at night 
in great numbers, in the folage of trees. 
At the time of the Spanish conquest, a 
battalion, just disembarked, did not dare to 
engage with the natives, because it took the 
Cucuyos which were shining on the neigh- | 
bouring trees for the matches of the arque- — 
buses ready to fire. “In these countries,”’ 
says M. Michelet, “one travels much by 
Fig. 552.—The Cucuyo Night, to escape from the heat. But one 
A a O°) ake hu ddo pal arene plunge into the peopled 
shades of the deep forests if these insects did not reassure 
the traveller. He sees them shining afar off, dancing, twisting 
about; he sees them near at hand on the bushes by his side; he 
takes them with him; he fixes them on his boots, so that they 
may show him his road and put to flight the serpents; but when 
the sun rises, gratefully and carefully he places them on a 
shrub, and restores them to their amorous occupations. It is a 
beautiful Indian proverb that says, “Carry away the fire-fly ; but 
restore it from whence thou tookest it.”* The Creole women 
make use of the Cucuyos to increase the splendour of their 
toilettes. Strange jewels! which must be fed, whieh must be 
bathed twice a day, and must be incessantly taken care of, to 
prevent them from dying. The Indians catch these insects 
by balancing hot coals in the air, at the end of a stick, to attract 


* “TT Insecte.” 

