THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 25 



white, emitting no light whatever (its lively time is at twi- 

 light). Immediately on being agitated, or moving about, the 

 spots become sulphur-colour, and radiate forth streams of 

 light, clearly seen, although the sun be shining into the room, 

 as it now does at the moment I write, with the creature in 

 the glass tumbler before me. We shut out the light, and to 

 test the power of the fly I took up a book and read two 

 verses of the 109th Psalm. Mr. Robert Gregg also took up 

 a book and read by its light. I hope this will satisfy all that 

 the lanthorn fly is luminous.' In the ' History of the West 

 Indies,' by R. M. Martin, 1837, vol. ii. p. 104, being vol. v. 

 of the 'British Colonial Library,' is a statement fully corro- 

 borating the truth of the lanthorn fly being luminous. The 

 question must, I think, now be considered as settled ; and 

 this, I hope, wipes away the last stain cast upon the fair fame 

 of Madame Merian : romance, as it has hitherto been con- 

 sidered by many, becomes plain reality." — President's Anni- 

 versary Address to Entomological Society, January 2.5, 1864. 



To this I appended a note, which Mr. Smith cites in the 

 communication which follows, forming part of the ' Proceed- 

 ings of the Entomological Society' for April 4, 1864 : — 



'* Mr. Frederick Smith — after remarking that his attention 

 had been called to a note appended by the Editor of the 

 'Zoologist' (Zool. 8975) to an extract from his Address to 

 the Society on the 25th of January last, the passage ex- 

 tracted being that relating to the luminosity of Fulgora, and 

 the note being in the following words, ' I believe the Hondu- 

 ras fire-fly with intermittent light is an Elater ; if so, the 

 Fulgora question remains in statu quo,^ — said that he had 

 since had supplied the further evidence of another eye- 

 witness of the luminosity of the lanthorn fly. Mr. James 

 Smith, of 23, Wilton Row, Queen's Road, Dalston,*made the 

 following statement : — ' The Fulgora candelaria is found most 

 plentifully between the months of May and August ; it is 

 occasionally seen in the winter, but these, I think, are hy- 

 bernated specimens ; it is then not luminous, and very much 

 faded. In the summer it has a pale blue or green light at 

 the end of the snout, which may be considerably augmented 

 by a gentle pressure of the insect ; it is brightest in the female. 

 It is common throughout all China, and called the " Star of 

 Eve," "Eye of Confucius," "Spark-fly;" and the same 



