423 THE LANTHORN-FLT, 



Section III. 



Genus IV. — '^he Fulgora, or Lanthorn-Jly' 



1 HE Inre£ls of this genus are rare in Britain, only two 

 fpecies being caught in the ifland. It is the foreign ani- 

 mals of this tribe which have the fingular quality of e- 

 mltting fiaflies of lighr when they fly. Tnis phenome- 

 non is thought to be occafioned by the waving of the e- 

 lytra, whofe thinnefs renders the fpots upon t'iem tranf- 

 parent : Tlie effeft is probably heightened by feme re- 

 fplendent quality peculiar to the tribe, and by the gol- 

 den yellow of the under wiiigs bordered with black. 

 However this may be, it is certain that in China there 

 is a certain fpec-es of the fulgora, which blazes with an 

 amazing luftre, that marks the path of the ammal 

 ■wherever it dircfts its courfe, and which in the minds 

 or the timid and fuoeriiitious, creates images of danger 

 of the molt tremenduous kind. 



Zinnaus enumerates nine different fpecies, one only of 

 •which he has termed European, from its refiderice in that 

 quarter of the globe. They are all charatJlerifed by j^ 

 long prcje<ftion rom the forepart of the head, of a light 

 and empty fubflance. The antennae are feated below 

 the eyes, having two articul^^tions, the exterior of which 

 is Jargeil, and of a globular form j the roilrum is bended 



inward 



