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CHAPTER V. 
PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 
PHOSPHORESCENCE has been observed with cer- 
tainty in a considerable number of insects belong- 
ing to the numerous family of Coleoptera, and in 
some belonging to the family of Hemiptera. We 
possess also some doubtful observations of this 
kind regarding certain Lepidoptera and Ortho- 
ptera. 
First among luminous Coleoptera I must men- 
tion the genus Lampyris, to which belong our own 
Glow-worms (Vers-luisants or Lampyres of the 
French). 
There are many species of Lampyris. No in- 
sects, perhaps, have given rise to more poetical 
sentiments among Hneglish authors, some of whom 
have termed them “stars of the earth,” “ dia- 
monds of the night,” etc.: pseudonyms they owe 
to their faculty of emitting a tranquil phosphoric 
light, by which they illuminate and decorate our 
hedgebanks on fine summer nights. For, if we 
