18 



motion was observed to that of an insect avoiding pursuit. A 

 subsequent examiner has stated that he approached one near enough 

 to see distinctly the form of an insect with wings like a dragon-fly. 

 Two or three years ago an anonymous article in a country paper 

 announced that some person in digging up the mud of an old pond 

 had discovered two creatures which he surmised to be the insects in 

 question, and which he described as looking like crayfish with 

 wings. The entomologist who can ascertain the fact by securing 

 an l(jnu Fat u as in a bottle will have drawn a tooth from the jaws 

 of superstition and human suffering." 



The editor asks, is the insect in question the Mole Cricket ? 

 But the description of ' an insect with wings like a dragon-fly ' 

 seems clearly to indicate the Ghost Swift, for the two pairs of long 

 narrow wings, the hinder pair free from the fore pair, are very 

 much the shape of the wings of a dragon-fly, and the shining white 

 wings of the male Ghost Swift are the only ones that would be 

 clearly discernible in the dark. 



Mr. Bond suggested that the insects dug up from the mud of the 

 pond, looking like ' crayfish with wings ' must have been the larvfB 

 of some large LibelUda. That is possible, though such larvae 

 would have only wing pads ; their identity, however, does not much 

 concern us, as the surmise that they had anything to do with the 

 Ignis Fatuus is after all — well, very much of a surmise. 



In the KntoiiKjlogical Mafjazine for 1833 appeared some 

 interesting articles and experiences in relation to the same 

 phenomenon. Mr. Geo. Wailes relates an experience of his 

 father's : " He was riding with a friend along the road between 

 Hexham and Alston, in the month of May, and in crossing the wild 

 moors, near the place where the counties of Northumberland and 

 Cumberland join, about ten o'clock p.m., were surprised by the 

 sudden appearance of a light within fifteen yards of the roadside. 

 It was about the size of the hand, and its shape, which was oval, 

 very well defined. The light is described to me as more like that 

 of a bright white cloud than of a flame. The place where 

 it appeared was very wet, and the peat moss had been dug out, 

 leaving what are locally termed "peat pots," which soon fill 

 with water, afi'ording nourishment to numerous Confervae and the 

 various species of Sphcujnum, which in their turn are metamorphosed 

 into peat. Doubtless these places, during the decomposition of the 

 vegetable matter, give out large quantities of gaseous particles. 

 The light was about three feet from the surface of the ground, and, 



