LUMINOUS SOUTH AFRICAN FULGORID INSECT. 283 



mystery. This woodlouse-sbaped grub, just over half an inch 

 long, but tapering slightly at both ends, with a thick white 

 mantle which broke apart in rings when it made any movement, 

 gave a slug-like appearance to its other points. As it is to 

 again occupy some more of our attention, we will leave it for 

 the present. That night and the one following I looked in the 

 hedges for another light, but was not rewarded with success. 



In the ' Transactions ' of the Entomological Society of 

 London for the year 1895, p. 429, the question of luminosity 

 among certain Fulgoridce was discussed by Mr. Distant,* and 

 later the same writer makes allusion again to the subject 

 in his ' Insecta Transvaaliensia,' vol. i. p. 182. The late Mr. 

 A. D. Millar, of Durban, a keen collector, once told me he had 

 noticed a light one night when hunting in Zululand, which 

 he attributed to a species of Pyrops, a larger insect than any of 

 our other Fulgorids ; his reason for mentioning this Fulgorid 

 was their presence and visits to the tent lights. The natives 

 •gave it the name of "Nkanyezi" (a candle). Mr. Distant 

 {supra), speaking of this luminous property in Fulgorince, says 

 it is an exploded theory, and long since disproved by collectors, 

 but concludes his remarks by saying that explanation might 

 be found in parasitic and luminous micro-organisms as have 

 been discovered to have caused the luminosity of midges {Chiro- 

 nomidce), and Talitrus, a genus of Crustacea (Amphipoda). When 

 I likened the light as mentioned to that of a glowworm, it may 

 be readily conceived this would be the first thought to enter 

 one's mind. Having been quite satisfied that the light was the 

 work of this Rhinortha and parasite, I took them to a dark room 

 and awaited further developments, but nothing would induce it 

 to repeat the phenomenon. The white powdery material that 

 adorned the larva puzzled me, and it was not till some time 

 after this that I was able to understand its purpose, as I hope 

 later to explain. Another strange feature about the light, which 

 was white and not electric white, as shown by Lampyrida, was, 

 it appeared paler from a distance. 



The subject is, indeed, an interesting one, and it is not 

 without a little satisfaction that I am, so far as one species is 



* " On a Probable Explanation of an Unverified Observation relative to 

 tbe Family Fulgoridce." 



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