Note on the Lantern Fly of Honduras. 103 



three luminous spots, one on each side of the head part, on the 

 upper part (like a cat's staring eyes), of a beautiful sulphur- 

 coloured light, in rays that spread over the room. The third 

 luminous spot is seen when the fly is on its back, half way 

 down the abdominal part of the insect. When quiescent, the 

 lumination is least ; in daylight the upper spots are nearly 

 white, emitting no light whatever (its lively time is at twi- 

 light). Immediately on being agitated, or moving about, the 

 spots become sulphur colour, and radiate forth streams of light, 

 clearly seen, although the sun be shining into the room, as it 

 now does at the moment I write^ with the creature in the glass 

 tumbler before me. We put out the lights, and to test the 

 power of the fly, I took up my psalm-book and read two verses 

 of Psalm cix. Mr Robert Gegg also took up a book at random, 

 and read by its light. I hope this will satisfy all that the 

 lantern-fly is indeed luminous." He had also a letter from 

 Dr John Young, Belize, kindly offering to make any observa- 

 tions the Society might desire. A published statement, in 

 the " History of the West Indies," by R. M. Martin, 1837, 

 vol. ii. p. 104, being vol. v. of British Colonial Library, corro- 

 borating the truth of the lantern-fly being luminous, was also 

 referred to. 



III. (1.) Notice of a Fossil Nau tilus from the Isle of Sheppy. By 

 James M'Bain, M.D., R.N. 



Dr M'Bain said, that the specimen of a fossil nautilus which 

 he exhibited to the Society was obtained from the Isle of 

 Sheppy, along with other fossil remains, and presented to 

 him by his friend Dr Easton, of H.M.S. Pembroke. Before 

 placing the specimen in the public museum of Edinburgh, 

 which, under the present energetic management, was rapidly as- 

 suming a highly scientific character, he considered it advisable 

 to give a short description of the state of preservation of the 

 shell, and the locality whence it was derived. The species 

 agreed with the description of the Nautilus Sowerbyi, given 

 in a monograph of the Eocene Mollusca, by F. E. Edwards, and 

 published by the Palseontographical Society. The specimen 

 he exhibited was seven inches in diameter by four inches 

 across, measured from one umbilical space to the other. It 



