Culture an'd Larval Behavior of Photurid Fireflies

Techniques are presented for collecting firefly larvae and for laboratory cultures providing adults in any month of the year. Tem- peratures below about 16 C prevent pupation, and constant darkness causes 90% inhibition of pupation and delays the adult eclosions that do occur. Larval body-weight frequency distributions for nine field samples, plus laboratory and field observations, suggest a 2-year life cycle for the species studied. Some aspects of larval behavior are dis- cussed in relation to light emission.