420 LUMINOUS INSECTS. 
a fine transparent scarlet; and these tints will of course 
be imparted to the transmitted light. 
In addition to the insects already mentioned, some 
others have the power of diffusing light, as two species 
of Scolopendra (S. electrica and phosphorea), and pro- 
bably others of the same genus. In these the light is 
not confined to one part, but proceeds from the whole 
body. SS. electrica is a common insect. in this country, 
residing under clods of earth, and often visible at night 
in gardens. S. phosphorea, a native of Asia, is an ob- 
scure species, described by Linné, on the authority of 
C. G. Ekeberg, the captain of a Swedish East India~ 
man, who asserted that it dropped from the air, shining 
like a glow-worm, upon his ship, when sailing in the 
Indian ocean a hundred miles (Swedish) from the con- 
tinent. However singular this statement, it is not in- 
credible. The insect may either, as Linné suspects, 
have been elevated into the atmosphere by wings with 
which, according to him, one species of the genus is 
provided; or more probably, perhaps, by a strong 
wind, such as that which raised into the air the shower 
of insects mentioned by De Geer as occurring in Swe- 
den in the winter of 1749, after a violent storm that 
had torn up. trees by the roots, and carried away to a 
great distance the surrounding earth, and insects which 
had taken up their winter quarters amongst it?. That 
@ De Geer, iv. 63.—These insects, which were chiefly Staphylini, 
L., small Scarabei, L., spiders, caterpillars, but particularly the larve 
of Cantharis fusea, fell in such abundance that they might have been 
taken from the snow by handfuls.—Other showers of insects which 
have been recorded, as that in Hungary, 20th November 1672 
(Lphem. Nat, Curics, 1673. 80.), and one mentioned in the news- 
