Lumiiious Insects, 579 



birds were not in the habit of doing so at any other time, 

 she thought some serious calamity was portended by it. My 

 mother comforted her as well as she could ; and I undertook 

 to rid her of the annoyance. By setting a horse-hair noose 

 on one of the window-ledges which it was in the habit of fre- 

 quenting, I soon caught it ; and, by plucking out the under tail- 

 coverts, which I wanted to dress yellow duns with, I effectually 

 cured it of the propensity, whether the stimulus had been 

 love or hatred; whether, Narcissus-like [see VI. 51.3, 514.], 

 it was in an ecstasy of self-admiration ; or whether, like the 

 cock which attacked its own image in the boot (and which 

 Mr. Robert Warren's poet and painter have exalted to lasting 

 fame), it would admit of no rival. 



CUtheroe^ Lancashire, May 29. 1834. 



Art. VII. Notes on Luminous Insects, chiefly of the West Indies ; 

 on Luminous Meteors ; on Lgnes Fatui ; on the Luminousness 

 of the Sea ; and on the Powers possessed by the Races oj' Lizards, 

 oj X}oluntarily changing their Colour : tvith other Information on 

 the Habits of Lizards, By the late Rev. Lansdown Guilding, 

 B.A. F.L.S. &c. 



The Luminous Matter of the J^ampyridce of the Tropics 

 seems to afford a much stronger and more durable light than 

 that of the glowworm of England (I. 156. ; VII. 250.) ; which 

 faintly sheds 



" A beam of soften'd splendour through the gloom. 



And feeds his lamp in solitude's recess." 



The matter taken from the vesicles, and rubbed on the wall, 

 long retains its brilliance, after the manner of phosphoric pre- 

 parations. The occurrence, too, of luminous insects in Britain 

 is more rare. Seldom does the same bank support a dozen 

 of these inactive midnight sparklers : but what can equal the 

 splendour of those fairy scenes which the inhabitant of the 

 tropics has nightly before his eyes ? The fireflies of the 

 West Indies, 



" Stars of the earth, and diamonds of the night," 



are said to be more numerous in rainy weather : the truth, 

 perhaps, is, that, in dark and cloudy evenings, their tiny lamps 

 and coruscations are more visible, and attract greater notice. 

 As twilight dies away you see, at one step, some gigantic tree 

 peopled by these magic rovers glowing with all the green, 

 the gold, and emerald lustre of precious stones. 



