238 THE BUTTERFLY VIYABIUM, 



whose wing-cases are of a bright shining violet- 

 purple, which would create a very pleasing variety 

 of colour in our little colony, especially when run- 

 ning over the plants of the Vivarium in the sun- 

 light. 



Then there is the brilliant Cantharis Vesica- 

 toria, the " Blister Beetle" of our Materia Medica, 

 which, with its rich green and golden metallic gloss, 

 could not fail to be attractive. Pew are aware that 

 the Cantharis is a native, as the numbers imported 

 by druggists are commonly called " Spanish-flies." 

 These beautiful but destructive insects, however, 

 appear occasionally in England in great numbers ; 

 and at Southend, a few seasons ago, so completely 

 cleared the Lime-trees of their foliage that many of 

 them did not recover their devastions. 



No. 5 in Plate V. is the wingless female of the 

 Glow-worm, Zampyris Noctiluca ; and No. 6 the 

 winged male, flying towards its mate. The common 

 and generally received fable, which describes the 

 wingless female of L. Noctiluca as being furnished 

 with a light, for the purpose of attracting her 

 mate, regarding the male as being entirely without 

 this singular light, has been long ago disproved 

 by naturalists, though still clung to by poets as 

 an elegant fancy, and far too valuable in poetic 



