XXXVIII PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Also a letter, addressed by that gentleman to Mr. White, de- 

 tailing the habits of many species of insects, and some Myriapoda, 

 inhabiting that island. 



Mr. E. Doubleday read a memoir on some new spfecies of 

 Geometr'idce, from Caraccas. 



The President called the attention of the Members to the sub- 

 ject of the luminosity of Fulgora laternaria, remarking that it is 

 desirable to collect all the evidence bearing on the disputed ques- 

 tion of the luminousness of this insect. " The following passage 

 (he observed) from Mr. W. H. Edwards's highly interesting 

 'Voyage up the River Amazon' (January, 1847), is worth quoting. 



" In describing a night-scene at Mogoary, twelve miles from 

 Para, the capital of the province, situated eighty miles from the 

 mouth of the Amazon, in Brazil, Mr. Edwards says, ' Huge 

 moths, those fairest of the insect world, have taken the place of 

 the butterflies, and myriads of fire-flies never weary in their 

 torch-light dance. Far down the road comes on a blaze, steady, 

 streaming like a meteor. It whizzes past, and for an instant the 

 space is illumined, and dewy jewels from the leaves throw back 

 the radiance. It is the lantern-fly, seeking what he himself 

 knows best, by the fiery guide upon his head.' — p. 31. 



" Mr. Edwards, with whom I have the pleasure of being per- 

 sonally acquainted, assures me that this is an accurate description 

 of what he himself witnessed ; and though he did not capture one 

 of the lantern-flies, all the Brazilians with whom he conversed on 

 the subject agreed in asserting that this insect is certainly and 

 notoriously luminous, the large hollow projection from the head 

 being the part which gives out the light. Mr. Henderson, for 

 example, when Mr. Edwards first landed at Para, and before he 

 had seen the appearance just described, told him that some night 

 or other he would see a flying insect giving out far more light 

 than the ordinary fire-flies, and gave a description of the insect to 

 which he alluded, which was exactly applicable to the specimen 

 of Fulgora laternaria brought to Mr. Edwards when he was at 

 Bara, one thousand miles higher up the Amazon, and upon seeing 

 which Signor Henriquez, of Bara, observed, * this is a rare insect 

 here, and is the one that is so luminous.' " 



The President also read the following communication relative to 

 meal made from vetches, which had been found to be poisonous. 



" As it is a duty of this Society to endeavour to throw light on 

 obscure facts in which it is possible that insects may be concerned, 

 I beg to draw your attention to a statement, apparently connected 

 with one of these, made to the Council of the Royal Agricultural 



