74 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 
during the night that she rose from her bed and opened 
the box, which however she immediately dropped on the 
eround, so frightened was she at the multitude of fiery 
flames issuing from it. 
Now modern naturalists, such as Prince Max of Neu- 
wied, Prince Paul of Wiirtemberg, Count Hoffmansegg, 
Mr. Lacordaire, and several others who have traveled in 
those countries, and have collected a number of them alive, 
state that none of the specimens 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 unsubstan- 
tiated by any of the species existing at the present day. 
With regard to the marvelous interpolations in Natural 
Science, I can not 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 transform- 
ed into a serpent; and even in the present age of knowl- 
edge, 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 
were also said to sprout legs, to move from place to place, 
and perform all the functions of a living body. These, and 
a thousand other equally ridiculous stories, were, at one pe- 
riod or another, more or less generally admitted as indis- 
