LUMINOUS INSFXTS. 415 



and striking appearance, the projection being of a rich 

 deep purple from the base to near tlie apex, which is of 

 a fine transparent scarlet ; and these tints will of course 

 be imparted to the transmitted light. 



In addition to the insects already mentioned, some 

 others have the power of diffusing light, as two species 

 of Centipedes [Geophilus electricus and phospJioreus\ and 

 probably others of the same genus. In these the light 

 is not confined to one part, but proceeds from the whole 

 body. G. electricus is a common insect in this country, 

 residing under clods of earth, and often visible at night 

 in gardens. G ? phosphoreus, a native of Asia, is an ob- 

 scure species, described by Linne, on the audiority of 

 C. G. Ekeberg, the captain of a Swedish East India- 

 man, who asserted that it dropped from the air, shining 

 'like a glow-worm, upon his ship, when sailing in the 

 Indian ocean a hundred miles (Swedish) from the con- 

 tinent. However singular this statement, it is not in- 

 credible. The insect may either, as Linne suspects, 

 have been elevated into the atmosphere by wings with 

 which, according to him, one species of the genus is pro- 

 vider! ; or more probably, perhaps, by a strong wind, 

 such as that which raised into the air the shower of in- 

 sects mentioned by De Geer as occurring in Sweden in 

 the winter of 1749, after a violent storm that had torn 

 up trees by the roots, and carried away to a great dis- 

 tance the surrounding earth, and insects which had taken 

 up their winter quarters amongst it^. That the wind 



^ De Gcer, iv. 63. — These insects, which were chiefly Brachyptera 

 L., Aphodii, spiders, caterpillars, but particularly the larvae of Telc- 

 phonis fuscus, fell in such abundance that they might have been taken 

 from the snow by handfuls. — Other showers of insects which have 



