LANTERN-FLIES. 67 



John C. Branner, Ph.D., states that when in South 

 America he was often informed that it was luminous, but 

 never could find any one who had personally seen the light. 

 Snr. Luiz A. A. de Carvalho, jun., of Rio de Janeiro, who 

 had fine specimens in his cabinet, assured him that he knew 

 of no evidence whatever that they produced light- In the 

 article on phosphorescence in the last edition of the Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica, Mr. William E. Hoyle, F.R.S., of the 

 " Challenger " expedition, apparently accepts the Fulgora as 

 a light-giver ; as he says, " Whilst the lantern-flies, Fulgoridce, 

 carry their light at the extremity of a long, curved pro- 

 boscis." Professor P. Martin Duncan writes, " It is doubtful 

 if the Fulgora, so often described in books as the lantern-fly, 

 has a scarlet light, if any at all." 



The Fulgora is not remarkable for its supposed light alone ; 

 as in Brazil, where it is called Gitiranaboia, etc., it is consid- 

 ered by some natives to be extremely deadly. Mr. John C. 

 Branner, of the Indiana University, investigated the subject, 

 and found that the natives believed that the long proboscis 

 was the poisonous organ ; and that when this struck any 

 animal, no matter how large or powerful, the latter immedi- 

 ately dropped dead. Even a distinguished Brazilian engineer 

 assured Mr. Branner of the truth of the stories, saying that 

 monkeys were often seen to fall dead from trees along the 

 Amazon, killed by the deadly Gitiranaboia; and a local paper 

 reported the fact that these insects were destroying cattle in 

 the southern provinces. At Par&, Mr. Branner was assured 

 that a child died in great agony after being stung by one. 

 It is needless to say that the lantern-fly is perfectly harmless, 

 and its poisonous properties as mythical as modern science 

 deems its light. 



