210 



Til 10 TROPICA r. WOULD. 



JAVA^^ESE MORMOLYCE. 



and studded, are a most effectual means of defence, and often 

 prove a grievous annoyance to the entomologist, from their 

 poisonous or stinging properties. Mr. 

 Swainson once finding in Brazil a cater- 

 pillar of a beautiful black colour, with 

 yellow radiated spines, and being anxious 

 to secure the prize, incautiously took hold 

 of it with the naked hand ; but so instan- 

 taneous and so violent was the pain 

 which followed, that he was obliged to 

 return home. Every device that could 

 be thought of to allay the itching pro- 

 duced by the venomous hairs of this 

 creature were in turn resorted to, with little or no effect 

 for several hours, nor had it entirely ceased on the following 

 morning. 



Though the great majority of luminous animals are marine, 

 frequently lighting up the bi*eaking Avave with millions of 

 moving atoms, or spreading over the beach like a sheet of fire,* 

 yet several insects are also endowed with the same wonderful 

 property. The European glow-worms and fire-flies, sparkling 

 on the hedge-rows, or flying in the summer air, afford a 

 charming spectacle ; but their brilliancy is far surpassed 

 by that of the phosphorescent beetles of the torrid zone. Thus 

 the Cocujas of South America, which emits its light from two 

 little transparent tubercles on the sides of the thorax, glows 

 with such intensity that a person may with great j 

 ease read the smallest print by the phosphorescence 

 *of one of these insects, if held between the fingers^ 

 -and gradually moved along the Vines with the! 

 luminous spots above the letters ; but if eight or] 

 ten of them are put into a phial the light will be! 

 COCUJAS. sufficiently good to admit of writing by it. 



The Indian Archipelago is equally rich in luminous insects,^ 

 Tlie Podada tree, the ornament of most of the river banks of| 

 ] )orneo, has a remarkably elegant foliage of a light green colour, 

 Jvajah Brooke f describes these trees illuminated by the fire-flies 



* ' The Sea and its Living Wonders,' ch. xx. 



t ' Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes,' London 1848, vol- 



IH. 



