LECTURE IX, 105 



ticular by the celebrated Madam Merian, and is 

 figured in her most elegant work on the Surinam 

 insects, where she gives an entertaining account 

 of the surprize into which she and her domestics 

 were thrown on first observing these insects to 

 shine by night, like so many flames of fire in the 

 room into which they had been introduced. The 

 insect is of the size represented in the figures we 

 are now viewing. Its colours, when living, con- 

 sist of a beautiful variegation of brown, green, 

 and red, on a yellowish ground, and the under 

 wings are decorated by a large eye-shaped spot on 

 each. The light afforded by the fire or Lantern- 

 Fly proceeds entirely from the head, and is said to 

 be sufficient to enable a person to read the small- 

 est print by; as well as to travel with by night 

 in the manner of a torch, if tied to the end of a 

 stick. Madam Merian was somewhat deceived 

 as to the larva or first stage of this insect, which 

 she confounds with a species of Cicada, and thiy 

 js one of the most remarkable oversights in her 

 work ; in which, if there be here and there a few 

 inaccuracies in her descriptions, we must at least 

 allow that the general elegance of her figures can 

 [jardly be surpassed. 



