BUGS. 105 



travelled in those countries, and have collected a 

 number of them alive, state that none of the speci- 

 mens they have ever seen alive, exhibited the least 

 appearance or trace of luminosity. And indeed of 

 what use could such a lantern be, placed directly 

 before the eyes of the Insect ? If we were obliged to 

 carry a torch-light upon our foreheads directly in front 

 of our eyes, we should be so dazzled that we could 

 see nothing. This Insect is three inches long, its head 

 being of itself only a few lines in length, but, with the 

 lantern, as long as its abdomen. It still retains its 

 name of Lantern-fly, but its supposed light has long 

 since been considered by naturalists as an ignorant 

 superstition, or, at best, as a fact unsubstantiated by 

 any of the species existing at the present day. 



With regard to the marvellous interpolations in 

 Natural Science, I cannot forbear quoting from the 

 work of the late Thomas Say, the following examples : 

 " We are told, that there was a time, when a piece of 

 wood was transformed into a serpent, and even in the 

 present age of knowledge, a hair fallen from the mane 

 or tail of a horse, into a stream of water, is believed 

 by many to become animated into a distinct being ; 

 dead leaves shed by the parent tree, are said to change 

 gradually into animals of singular shape, and to have 

 changed their place of abode under the eye of the 

 historian who related the wonderful tale ; dead sticks 



