1900. } INSECTS OF THE “ SKBAT EXPEDITION.” 857 
been found bold enough to suggest that in life it is luminous’ ; 
being led to this suggestion, I suppose, by the lantern-like outline 
of the “‘nose” in the more highly specialized members of the 
family, and perhaps by the fact that some of the species at any 
rate are nocturnal or crepuscular, and rest by day on the trunks 
of trees in a very open manner. At Biserat in Jalor I was 
fortunate enough to observe the real use of this peculiar structural 
modification. 
On the morning of May 30th, I noticed a specimen of Hotinus 
spinole seated on the trunk of a Durian tree in the village and 
incautiously attempted to catch it in my hand. The insect remained 
almost still, merely drawing in its legs towards its body and 
pressing the claws firmly against the bark, until I had almost 
touched it. Then, it lowered its head with very great rapidity, 
flew up into the air without spreading its wings, and alighted on 
the roof of a house about six feet behind the tree and considerably 
higher than the position on the trunk whence it had started. 
When it was at rest its dorsal surface had been directed towards 
the roof and its head had pointed upwards ; but it started off at a 
tangent from its original station, and landed with its head, 
speaking roughly, at right angles to an imaginary line drawn 
through the main axis of the body as it had been on the tree. 
The insect remained on the roof without moving while I went to 
get a butterfly-net, in which it was easily captured by a man who 
swarmed up one of the house-posts. 
At the time I did not notice anything peculiar in the way in 
which this Fulgorid jumped, for there are many large species 
of the same family (e. g. Aphena atomaria) which, without being 
provided with long noses, can leap for a considerable distance by 
means of their legs only; but, as I was examining my specimen 
after it had died in a cyanide-bottle, L was struck by an indenta- 
tion or crease that ran across the central region of the nose, at 
right angles to its main axis. Then I discovered that the chitin 
was flexible at this pomt, and at this point only; and that if the 
tip of the nose and the dorsal surface of the abdomen were pressed 
together between the finger and thumb and then suddenly released, 
the insect would not fall straight to the ground, but would be 
propelled for some distance through the air before doing so; just 
as would be the case if a piece of whalebone were treated in like 
manner. Now supposing that the whalebone (representing the 
nose of the insect) was fixed rigidly to a small rigid object (the 
head), which in its turn was fastened by a flexible juncture to a 
larger rigid object (the thorax and abdomen); supposing that the 
larger object was then laid so that it rested for all its length 
along a smooth vertical support with the whalebone pointing in 
front of it, that the free extremity of the whalebone was bent 
downwards by some force, and that the whole structure was 
simultaneously shoved away from the support (as the body of 
! For a coloured picture of a /wminous Fulgorid, see Donovan's ‘ Natural 
History of the Insects of China, p. 27; also for much evidence as to its 
luminosity. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1900, No. LVIJ. SY 
[31] 
