. The American entomologist. Entomology. THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 19 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. ";—W'm- JI/cC, Mexico, Audrain county, Mo.— You semi tt specimen of whiit is knowu as the "Fire-fly" in your neighborhooil, aud you desire to learn sometliuig ol Its natural history. The insect, which has brownish black wing-covers, margined with pale yellow, and a yellow thorax, with a central black spot, and a patch of rose color each eiilcof it, and which was received in good condition, is tlie Photinus pyralis of Linneus, and is known allover the West by the name
. The American entomologist. Entomology. THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 19 ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. ";—W'm- JI/cC, Mexico, Audrain county, Mo.— You semi tt specimen of whiit is knowu as the "Fire-fly" in your neighborhooil, aud you desire to learn sometliuig ol Its natural history. The insect, which has brownish black wing-covers, margined with pale yellow, and a yellow thorax, with a central black spot, and a patch of rose color each eiilcof it, and which was received in good condition, is tlie Photinus pyralis of Linneus, and is known allover the West by the name of the "; It is not, strictly speaking, a flv, but a true beetle, belonging to the order C'eLBorTKKA, aud the family [FiR. 9.]. Every one is familiar with the appearance of these beetles, as their soft glow, which is ever and anon vanishing and re-appearing, illumines the pleasant evenings of .July and Augustj but as their transformations are not so well known, weTiave prepared the accomi/anyingrigure9 in illustration ot them. At a is represented the larva as it appears when Itill grown. It lives in the ground, where it feeds on other soft bodied insects. At times these ' ? lire-fly '' larva; must suli- sist almost entirely on young earth-womis, for we have found them abundantly in soil, on which no vegetation had grown for at least one year, and where inconsequence there was scarcely another animal to be found, besides these two —the "lire-fly" lan-a feeding upon the earth-worm, and the latter subsisting on the earth itself. Kach segment of the larva has a horny, brown plate above, with a straight white line running longitudinally tlirough the middle, and another, somewhat curved one, on each side. The sides are soft and rose-colored, and the spiracles which are white, are placed on a somewhat elevated, and nearly oval, dark brown patch. On the under side it is of a cream color, with two brown spots in tlie centre of each segment
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
