FLYING GLOWWORMS. 167 



ignesfatm) have lured us, already, somewhat wide of our self- 

 appointed track, the haunts, namely of our native insects ; but 

 before we return to them, we must yet wander for awhile 

 amidst a brilliant galaxy of " winged stars," the Lampyridce, 

 or flying glowworms of the south of Europe.* These are 

 also the Italian Lucciole, of the which, having, enfabuliste, dis- 

 coursed already, we are the more beholden to give, en natural- 

 iste, some brief account. 



Like the tropic fire-flies, these glowworms are beetles, though 

 of a different family, that of the Lampyridce, of which the 

 Lucciola is a very small species, with blackish-brown wing- 

 cases ; the legs, as well as thorax, of which the shield nearly 

 hides the head, being reddish yellow. The light of these in- 

 sects, when creeping, or perching upon trees, is described as 

 being hardly perceptible, but becoming brilliant on flight ; 

 not constant, but scintillating, as if disclosed on successive 

 expansions of the wings. Appearing with the twilight, their 

 full radiance shines forth in darkness ; when some, shooting 

 through the air, make luminous tracks in all directions, while 

 others spangle the shrubs and herbage.f 



Their appearance and effect in the neighbourhood of Genoa, 

 has been thus described by Sir J. E. Smith : $ 



" On the eve of St. John the Baptist, the great festival of 

 Genoa, the town was brilliantly illuminated, while along the 



* Lanvpyris Italica. t See ' Naturalist's Library.' 



J In Sketch of a Tour on the Continent,' quoted in Nat. Lib.' 



