IGNIS FATUUS. 851 



" which is always sufficiently obvious near Dover," no Ento- 

 mologist requires to be reminded that neither the Apterous 

 female of this beetle, nor the equally wingless Scolopendra, 

 can by any possibility perform the vagaries so identified with 

 the very name of " Will-with-the-Wisp." No doubt, the 

 insect alluded to by the Reviewer as having been brought to 

 light by the pond-side is meant for the mole cricket, but 1 

 do not think, after the vague descriptions and consequent wild- 

 goose-chases with which every Entomologist has been more or 

 less pestered by his non-entomological friends, we ought to 

 allow the surmises of the " Mudlark" to be entitled to much 

 weight, nor yet the flying, fiery " dragon-fly" of the "subse- 

 quent examiner." You ask for facts — the following you may 

 depend upon. I had often heard my father mention an ignis 

 fatuus which he and a friend, " nunc inter beatos," saw several 

 years ago, and the notice in your last number caused me to ask 

 for full particulars. They were riding along the road between 

 Hexham and Alston, in the month of May, accompanied by a 

 servant; and in crossing the wild moors, near the place where 

 the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland join, about 

 ten o'clock p.m., were surprised by the sudden appearance of 

 a light within fifteen yards of the roadside. It was about the 

 size of the hand, and its shape, which was oval, very well de- 

 fined. The light is described to me as more like that of a 

 bright white cloud than of a flame. The place where it ap- 

 peared was very wet, and the peat moss had been dug out, 

 leaving what are locally termed " peat pots," which soon fill 

 with water, affording nourishment to numerous conferva; and 

 the various species of Sphagnum, which in their turn are me- 

 tamorphosed into peat. Doubtless these places, during the 

 decomposition of the vegetable matter, give out large quantities 

 of gaseous particles. The light was about three feet from the 

 surface of the ground, and, hovering over the peat pots, moved 

 for the distance of about fifty yards nearly parallel with the 

 road, and then, probably on the failure of the supply of gas, 

 suddenly went out. In order to obviate the question, Was not 

 this the alighting of the insect, supposing it to have been one ? 

 I inquired whether the light approached the ground on going 

 out, and find that it did not, but the manner of its disappear- 

 ance was similar to that of a candle being blown out. 



This is the only authentic account I ever had from an eve- 



