PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 153 



pendage projecting from the head a sort of long 

 proboscis. In F. laternaria, which inhabits South 

 America, this projection is horizontal, uneven, and 

 rounded at the extremity. In F. candelaria, which 

 is found in China, the proboscis is cylindrical and 

 curved upwards. 



It is from these appendages, the sides of which 

 are transparent, that the phosphoric light ema- 

 nates ; they appear to be filled with a peculiar 

 phosphoric substance. Madame Merian was the 

 first to observe the phenomenon. According to 

 her account, F. laternaria, which is a large insect, 

 emits a most brilliant light. It is said also that 

 the trunk of a tree covered with numerous indivi- 

 duals of F. candelaria some in movement, others 

 in repose presents a very grand spectacle, impos- 

 sible to describe, but which may be witnessed 

 sometimes in China. 



Fulgora pyrrhorynchus, described and figured 

 by Donovan in his ' Insects of India/ is said to 

 emit light of a fine purple colour. 



Some authors have denied that the Fulgora 

 shine. Count Hoffmansegg informs us that his 

 insect collector, Sieber, a practised entomologist 

 of thirty years' standing, who took many spe- 

 cimens of F. laternaria in the Brazils, never saw 

 one luminous. On the other hand, the Marquis 

 Spinola, in the ' Annals of the Entomological So- 

 ciety of France/ vol. viii., contends for the lumi- 



