Nature and Art, October 1, 18G6.] 
LANTHORN-FLIES. 
133 
balance. Unfortunately I squeezed my captive to death in 
trying to confine him in a live-box, and so put an end to 
him and the ticking by one operation. After this, for a 
month or two all was silent ; when one night towards the end 
of the year, whilst sitting over the fire, my ears were saluted 
by the well-remembered sound. Experientia docct, so I 
straightway removed the lustre from the chimney-piece, and 
after listening to satisfy myself that I had my friend safe, 
removed the rose from the base of the candle, and as before, 
by a sharp tap on the table, knocked the Atropos out of it. 
I killed him or her at once, intending to have mounted the 
specimen as a microscopic object, but from the extreme 
softness of the body, it squeezed up into an amorphous 
mass when I attempted to flatten it. From that time up 
to the present date I have heard no more ticking, and so 
infer that I must have destroyed a pair which had taken up 
their abode in the candle ornament, and whose untimely 
decease has cut off a possible generation of the Atropos 
pulsatorius.” 
I may mention that a friend of mine told me that 
the summer before last he heard a peculiar ticking 
sound proceeding from a picture-frame in his sitting- 
room, and that upon his taking the frame from the 
wall on which it hung and placing it upon the table, 
he continued to hear the same sounds ; anxious to 
discover the author of them he took the frame to 
pieces with the greatest care, and discovered within 
it a minute spider, and a specimen of what, from 
his description of it, I doubt not was an Atropos 
pulsatorius. I think this matter, so long a qucestio 
vexata, has been thus finally set at rest, and that 
A tropos pulsatorius is certainly one of the insects 
qiopularly known as death-watches. 
Since the above was written I have examined 
a number of these minute insects, which I find 
abundantly in my house. The A tropos pulsatorius, 
which is about one line in length, is entirely 
destitute of wings, the female is broader than the 
male, and has the antennae much longer. The sex 
can readily be distinguished by pulling the body in 
two with the points of two needles ; the repro- 
ductive organs may then be readily seen under the 
microscope. I have not yet succeeded in my en- 
deavours to hear the ticking sounds. 
A FEW WORDS UPON THE LUMINOSITY OF LANTPIORN-FLIES. 
By Arthur G. Butler, F.Z.S., Assistant, Zoological Department, British Museum. 
H OW frequently we find that things which 
appear to some men most probable, seem to 
others most fit subjects for question and debate. 
The well-worn adage, “ seeing is believing,” is 
still made use of, notwithstanding its threadbare 
condition, and probably will be so long as the world 
lasts ; this, perhaps, is to a great extent owing to 
the vulgar notion that it shows sound sense not to 
believe everything that you are told: yet this 
sceptical spirit cannot surely be an evidence of a 
powerful intellect, for we see it strongly developed 
in the most illiterate. 
Familiar as we all are with the glow-woi-m, and 
knowing its luminous properties, we should laugh 
to scorn any attempt to shake our faith in the 
reality of its phosphoric brilliance; yet, just such 
an attack has been made by the scientific men of 
the present day, upon the fair reputation of another 
of night’s starry wanderers. 
Let us cross the Atlantic, and visit the dense 
forests of South America, where strange birds with 
gorgeous plumage utter their varying notes ; where 
those brilliant metallic butterflies, the Morplios 
and Apaturas, take their bold flight through the 
splendid tropical foliage, and summer, ever present, 
perpetuates the earthly paradise. Then, when 
evening with rapid stride closes upon the scene, 
Nature, ever prodigal of her treasures, brings forth 
the beautiful lanthorn-fly, which enlivens the gloom 
with its little lamp, and by its numbers makes us 
almost fancy that the stars of heaven have descended 
to welcome us. Listen ! it is singing as it flies, like 
some small elfin of the night. 
Yet, alas ! the luminosity of this insect has been 
denied by savants, who having wandered far from 
their native land, leaving all the comforts and de- 
lights of home for the express purpose of searching 
out nature’s secrets, return from their toil and tell 
us that our flying lanthorn is but a lanthorn of the 
brain, invented no doubt by some light-headed 
person ; and as proof of this, they say that they 
have often seen the insect, but not its light : — 
“ Sir, of my judgment you ’ll allow, 
I’ve seen, and sure I ought to know.” 
Ay, some go even farther. Dr. Hancock asserts 
that the whole of the native tribes of Guiana agree 
in treating the idea as fabulous ; he considers the 
whole story an invention of Euroqieans desirous of 
assigning some use to the curious diaphanous pro- 
jection resembling a horn lanthorn in front of the 
head of the insect ; he also states that it seldom 
sings. 
And, perhaps, it might appear presumptuous on 
our part entirely to disagree with these experienced 
naturalists, did we not believe that some explana- 
