LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 237 



larger and more brilliant than ours. They are 

 more than half an inch in length. The light 

 proceeds from two spots about the size of a 

 pin's head, situated near the eyes, and also from 

 the under surface of the body. One of the early 

 historians of Central America gives an interest- 

 ing and curious account of these fire-flies. He 

 says: " They have two stars close by their eyes, 

 and two more under their wings, which give so 

 great a light that by it you can spin, weave, 

 write, and paint ; and the Spaniards go by night 

 to hunt the Utios, or little rabbits, of that coun- 

 try, and a-fishing carrying these animals tied 

 to their great toes or thumbs, and they call them 

 Locuyos, being also of use to save them from 

 the gnats, which are there very troublesome. 

 They take them in the night with firebrands, 

 because they make to the light, and they are so 

 unwieldly that when they fall, they cannot rise 

 again ; and the men streaking their faces and 

 hands with a sort of moisture which is in those 

 stars, seem to be afire as long as it lasts." 



We are told that many years ago, when a 

 number of Europeans landed in the West Indies 

 at night, they were greatly alarmed at seeing 

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