21 



found a lot of little gnats something like the flies on the hops only 

 bigger, and kept until the next day, and their little tails all shone 

 like little glowworms. There was about twelve or thirteen of 

 them, and we showed to lots of our neighbours the next day, and 

 they shone a little the next night, but not so bright." {80th 

 October, 1888.) 



Now these last three accounts seem all to relate to one type of 

 phenomenon, but it is to be noted that this does not conform 

 with our preliminary notion of the Will-o'-the-Wisp, but refers to a 

 large ball of light, in one case definitely stated to be on dry ground. 

 on another about the ruins of an old castle (in this case the swarm 

 of gnats had apparently settled on the wall of the ruin before they 

 were observed), in the last only was it on boggy ground. The ball 

 of light dances up and down, and moves along, but does not 

 "hover " or " flit " about, in fact it behaves very much like the 

 small clouds of gnats that may sometimes be observed dancing in 

 the sunshine. It is true that we have here to fall back again upon 

 the luminosity of an insect not usually luminous, but it is not here 

 a case of one unconfirmed observation of questionable exactitude, 

 in fact we have other scientific records of such luminosity being 

 observed in gnats of different species, without the incidents being 

 associated with the Will-o'-the-Wisp. Two species thus identified 

 as luminous are Chirononnia pliiinosKs and ('. tendens. The lumi- 

 nosity is noted as embracing the whole body and its appendages (in 

 the instance related by Mr. Harrison only the " tails " are men- 

 tioned), and was proved to be entirely independent of the will of the 

 insect, persisting for some time after death, even in alcohol. The 

 insects exhibiting the light are always in a moribund condition, 

 sitting upon the bushes, from which if shaken they merely drop to 

 the ground unable to fly. It is supposed that this is a case 

 analogous to that of the amphipod crustacean Talitnis, which is 

 sometimes found to exhibit a similar kind of luminosity. In this 

 case the body of the animal has been found to be swarming with 

 bacteria, which are the actual source of the luminescence. Search 

 has been made for bacteria in the luminous C/iirononins, but in no 

 case was the material suitably preserved for bacteria to be 

 recognisable. 



I now pass to the consideration of accounts relating to yet 

 another class of phenomena. 



The article by Mr. Chambers, above quoted, elicited a very 

 scathing reply from W. Weissenborn, of Weimar (who was a 



