HEMIPTERA. 113 
same breadth as the head, and presents above a very great gib- 
bosity. The antennz are short, with a globular second articu- 
lation, and a small terminal hair. The species represented in 
Fig. 83 is yellow, varied with black. The elytra are of a greenish 
yellow, sprinkled with black; the wings, of the same colour, have 
at the extremity a large spot resembling an eye, which is sur- 
rounded by a brown circle very broad in front. It inhabits 
Guyana. This remarkable insect enjoys a great renown with the 
vulgar, by a peculiarity which may be called its speciality—the 
property of shining by night or in the dark. Hence its name of 
Fulgora lanternaria. 
The knowledge of the Fulgora lanternaria has been spread and 
popularised in Europe by a celebrated book, which has for its title, 
““ Métamorphoses des Insectes de Surinam.” ‘This book, which 
contains the result of patient study of the natural history of 
Dutch Guyana (Government of Surinam), was written and pub- 
lished in three languages, by a woman whose name this work has 
rendered immortal—Mlle. Sybille de Mérian, and who won the 
admiration and respect of her contemporaries by her love of the 
beauties of nature, and her perseverance in making them known 
and admired. Sybille de Mérian was born at Bale. Daughter, 
sister, and mother of celebrated engravers, herself an excellent 
flower-painter, she had worked a long time at Frankfort and 
at Nuremburg; and had read with the greatest attention the 
““Théologie des Insectes,” * and with admiration Malpighi’s book 
on the silkworm. Full of enthusiasm for the study of natural 
history, she left Germany, to visit the magnificent collection of 
plants which were kept in the hot-houses of Holland, and made 
admirable reproductions of them with her pencil. 
This attentive study of the vegetable world suggested to her the 
idea, which soon became an ardent desire, of observing these 
marvels of nature in those parts of the globe in which they display 
themselves with the greatest magnificence and splendour. At the 
age of fifty-four, Sybille de Mérian set out for equatorial America. 
From the very first days of her arrival, she hazarded her life, 
sometimes without a guide, in the swampy plains or burning 
* “ Théologie des Insectes, on Démonstration des Perfections de Dieu dans tout ce 
qui concerne les Insectes, par Lesser, traduit en Francais.” La Haye, 1742. 
I 
