154 PHOSPHORIC INSECTS. 



nous character of the whole tribe. Again, M. 

 Richard reared a species of Fulgora, but never 

 saw it shine ; whilst a friend of M. Westmael as- 

 sured him he had seen F. laternaria luminous when 

 alive. 



Mr. Smith, of the British Museum, has related 

 to me an anecdote which confirms the opinion 

 that the Fulgora are certainly luminous. Whilst 

 curator of the Entomological Society, he was one 

 day showing some insects to Lady Seymour, her 

 son, a young midshipman, and one of his com- 

 panions. The two latter had wandered to a case 

 of Fulgora, when one of the boys exclaimed, 

 " Why, look here ! these are the Candle-flies that 

 we used to knock down with our caps in China." 

 Besides this, Dr. Donovan has carefully figured 

 these Fulgora, and his figures show them in the 

 act of emitting light from the points of their pe- 

 culiar proboscis. 



The group of Fulgora is, however, very little 

 known; we know scarcely anything of their 

 habits, except that they appear to be night-insects : 

 they merit assuredly a more complete history. 



In the family of Lepidoptera, which includes 

 Butterflies, Moths, etc., a phosphoric light has 

 been observed in the eyes of Noctua-psi, a little 

 grey nocturnal moth, which has upon its upper 

 wings a few black spots resembling the Greek 

 letter psi. 



