THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL EISTORY. 



[SIXTH SERIES.] 

 No. 86. FEBRUARY 1895. 



XIV. — On the Luviinosity of Midges (Chironomidte). By 

 Petrr vSciimidt, of the Zoological Laboratory of the 

 Imperial University at St. Petersburg"^. 



Four years ago it was shown by I. D. KusnezofFf, in a little 

 memoir of a bibliographical character, that the luminosity of 

 i^Iidges (Chironomitla3) had already been observed in the last 

 century. 



For we find in Pallas \ the following lines, taken from a 

 letter written by Carl llablitz from Astrabad (Persia) : — 

 " Besides this luminous insect (Lampj/ris)^ which is of very 

 frequent occurrence on the shore of the Bay of Astrabad, I 

 have likewise had occasion to observe that in the dark a light 

 also emanates from the gnats {Culex pipiens, L.). In fact, I 

 noticed this last autumn and in the spring of the present 

 year, since these insects had established themselves in multi- 

 tudes on board our ships." 



It appears to be scarcely open to doubt that the above 

 quotation refers not to the luminosity of Culex^ but to that 

 of Chironomus §, since, on the one hand, no single subsequent 

 or previous statement exists as to the luminosity of the rirst- 



• Translated by IL E. Austen from the ' Zoologische JahrbiiclitT. — 

 Abtlieilun^ fiir Systeniatik, (leographie und Biolog^e der Thiere,' I3d. viii. 

 Heft 1 (Jt-na, 1894), pp. hS-m. 



t "Zur Krage nach deni Leuchton der Diptoren,'' Wostnik Estestwos- 

 nanija, St. Petersbiirtr, 1800, no. 4, pp. lt)7-171 (in Russian). 



\ ' S'fut' Nord. iieitr. zur physik. u. geojrr. Krd- u. Viilkerschreibunp;',' 

 Bd. iv. 178.3 (referred to by Osten-Saeken, Ent. Mo. Mag. vol. xv. 1878, 

 no. 170, p. 43). 



§ As Kusnezoff also presumes : vide loc. cit. p. 167. 



Ann. & Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 6. Vol. xv. 10 



