1939] 
History of Entomology in China 
27 
The “greyish yellow” is very accurate for those specimens 
I have from Peiping. From these descriptions, it is evident 
that chu ki is Lycorma and not Huechys. 2 Huechys, the 
black cicada with a red head, is called “Er”, according to 
Fang Yen, another Chinese Classic appearing long before 
the Christian era. 
In closing I have one other statement to make for those 
who are interested in biological problems in ancient China. 
Based upon my personal experience, obtained in preparing a 
“History of Entomology in China”, a work encouraged by 
Professor C. T. Brues and Dr. G. Sarton, I have found that 
the earlier Chinese as a whole were quite vague in their 
expression. Exactly the same term may mean entirely dif- 
ferent things to different authors and sometimes it is very 
difficult to distinguish them unless one has as a general 
background some knowledge of the fauna and flora of the 
region whence the author came. Thus it is not even safe to 
trust the translation of those who know Chinese unless they 
are duly qualified from a biological standpoint. 
3. Entomology — Fireflies as Imperial Entertainment in 
China. 
The following paragraph from Folsom and Wardle, page 
521, is very interesting to me. 
“Annually the people of Gifu collect many thousands of 
fireflies which are sent to Tokio and on a certain night are 
liberated for the enjoyment of the emperor.” 
This paragraph is interesting to me because it reminds me 
of the following story about one of the romantic emperors 
of China. 
“In the 12th year of Da Yeh (616), emperor Yang visited 
the Ching Hua Palace. Bushels of fireflies were collected 
by imperial order. In the evening, the Emperor and his 
courtiers went up the mountain. The fireflies were then 
released and the whole valley became immediately enlivened 
with the sparklings of these insects.” — Sui Shu or Annals of 
the Dynasty of Sui. 
2 For detailed description of these two insects, see page 157 ( Huechys 
sanguined De Geer) and page 207 ( Lycorma delicatula White) in 
Distant, Fauna British India, Rhynchota, Vol. 3, 1906. 
