XXXn JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 



death of the younger Cyrus ; which, although it did not operate 

 fatally, rendered those of the soldiers who ate but little, like drunken 

 men, and those who ate much, like mad men, or dying persons ; and 

 numbers lay upon the ground as if there had been a defeat. 



Another Paper by Dr. Hancock was also read, upon the Lumi- 

 nosity of the Fulgorce ; in which the writer concurs with M. Ri- 

 chard and M. Sieber in regarding as erroneous the statement of 

 Madame Merian, that the Fulgora laternaria of Linnaeus exhibits 

 at night a brilliant light ; and remarks that the whole of the native 

 tribes of Guiana agree in treating this story as fabulous. It seems, 

 indeed, to be an invention of Europeans, desirous of assigning a use 

 to the singular diaphanous projection, resembling a horn-lantern, in 

 front of the head of the insect. He also states that the Fulgora rarely 

 sing. The insect whose song is most frequently heard in Guiana is 

 the Cicada clarisona, the Aria Aria of the Indians, and Razor- grinder 

 of the colonists. In the cool shades of the forests it may be heard 

 at almost every hour of the day ; but in George-town its song com- 

 mences as the sun disappears below the horizon. At George-town 

 this Cicada vf&s never heard in 1804, when Dr. Hancock first visited 

 the place, but it is now very common, probably in consequence of 

 the shelter aiforded by the growth of many trees and shrubs in the 

 gardens which have since been formed there. The sound emitted 

 by it is a long continuous shrill tone, which might be compared al- 

 most to that of a clarionet, and is little interrupted except occasion- 

 ally by some vibrating undulations. 



" Descriptions of some new species of Coleopterous Insects from 

 Monte Video." By S. S. Saunders, Esq., M.E.S. 



" On the Earwig." By J. O. "Westwood. 



A discussion ensued relative to the recent swarms of Ants, which 

 had appeared in such numbers in some parts of the metropolis as to 

 be commented upon in the daily papers. It was stated that coffee- 

 grounds strewed about had been recommended as a remedy. Also 

 that the insects had in one instance been traced to a piece of American 

 pine wood, newly laid down in a kitchen; whilst in another instance 

 they had established themselves in the crevices of a wall near to a 

 fireplace. 



