The Flying Glow-worms of Southern Europe (Lampyris Italica), known in 

 Italy as " Le Lucciole," are the insects here represented. 



LE LUCCIOLE. 



A MIDSUMMER TALE. 



N Midsummer Eve, or the Eve of St. John 

 (1679), the palaces and hovels of Genoa la Su- 

 perba were illuminated in honour of the Baptist 

 by an artificial blaze, contrasted with which 

 the lamps of nature looked cold and dim. Yet 

 nowhere are summer evenings more brilliantly lit up than on 

 the shores which bound the Gulf of Genoa; for, besides the 

 " rulers of the night," robed in the clearest of nocturnal blue, 

 and shining forth in regal splendour, there are stars of the 



