[ ^9 1 



THE LANTERN-FLIES. 



IN this tribe, the head is extended forward, and 

 is hollow and inflated. The antenna?, consisting of 

 two joints, the outer one of which is globular, are 

 seated below the eyes. The rostrum or beak* is 

 four-jointed, and inflected or bent inwards under 

 the body, The legs are not formed for leaping. 



THE GREAT L A NTERN-FL Y f . 



This is the most vivid of all the luminous insects. 

 It affords a light so great that travellers, walking by 

 night, are said to be enabled to pursue their journey 

 with sufficient certainty if they tie one or two of 

 them to a stick, and carry this before them in the 

 manner of a torch. It is common in many parts of 

 South America, and is described by Madam Merian 

 in her superb work on the insects of Surinam. She 

 gives an entertaining account of the alarm into 

 which she was thrown, by the flashing which pro- 

 ceeded from them in the dark, before she had been 

 apprized of their shining nature. 



" The Indians once brought me (says she) before 

 I knew that they shone by night, a number of these 

 Lantern-flies, which I shut up in a large wooden 



■ This is a jointed sheath, situated in the mouth, ani containing 

 sets, or bristles, used in extracting the juices from plants-, and for • »me 

 other purposes. 



+ Fulgora lanternajria. Linn. 



VOL. nr. U 



