Nature and Art, October 1, 18(ifl.] 
ON THE BRIDGE OF LISMORE. 
135 
pai’t of a guide, enabling tlie insect to discover its 
prey, and to steer itself safely in the night. 
As with the Fulgora laternaria of America, so 
is it with the Hotinus candelarius of China. Mr. 
John Bowring, who for many years resided in 
China, where he made vast additions to his splendid 
collection of beetles, asserts that he never observed 
any luminosity about it : however, in the year 1864, 
we heard Count Christian Zedlety d’Enzenberg, 
an officer in the Austrian service, affirm that he 
had seen it shining brilliantly at night, and that 
the luminosity flashed out at intervals, like a 
revolving light ; he also said that one evening 
whilst strolling through the streets he observed a 
crowd of Chinese gathered round a house, a look 
of perplexity on each countenance ; upon the wall 
above them was a brilliant greenish light. The 
count, who was a practical man, instead of gazing and 
gaping, with the words of that beautiful rhyme of 
our childhood stamped on his forehead — 
“ Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 
How I wonder what you are,” 
took his walking-stick and knocked the object 
down, and, as he had expected, it turned out to be 
a flying candle : he picked it up and took it home 
to show to some friends, who, as he thought, might 
not previously have seen the phenomenon. 
Mr. Smith, of the Bi’itish Museum, who also 
heard this story told, related to us an incident 
which had occurred within his own experience : 
he said that he once had a box of Chinese insects 
before him, when, of two sailors that stood by, one 
exclaimed to the other, pointing to the Hotinus 
candelarius , “See here, Tom, here’s one of the 
flying candles that we used to catch in our hats 
along shore at night in China.” Mr. Smith, who 
had not drawn their attention to the insect, or 
mentioned the circumstance of its coming from 
China, then asked them if they were sure that it 
shone at night. “Well,” he replied, “those we 
saw were just like this one, only they were red 
instead of yellow.” Now it is undoubtedly true 
that the Chinese lanthorn-fly, although blood-red 
when alive, changes to yellow after death, and as 
the sailor was correct in this part of his story, we 
may surely give him the credit of making no 
mistake as to the fact of the insect’s luminosity. 
We trust that time will solve the mystery, and 
clear the fogs of doubt that hover about the 
luminous path of these most interesting insects, and 
then we shall again be able to applaud the old 
saying,— 
“ Magna est veritas, et prevalebit.” 
In our plate we have given figures of three of 
the most striking Lantliorn-flies, — 
Hotinus candelarius, fig. 1. 
Hotinus maculalus, fig. 3. 
Fulgora laternaria,, fig. 2. 
BEFORE BREAKFAST, OK THE BRIDGE OF LISMORE. 
By \V. Peaed, M.D. 
I HAD been hard at Avork, and Avanted rest. It 
was therefore Avitli no ordinary delight that, 
early in J uly, I received an invitation from a friend 
to visit him on the banks of the BlackAvater. The 
offer Avas gratefully accepted, the answer Avas Avritten 
currente calamo, and, following hard on the heel of 
my letter, I Avas soon racing doAvn the Great Western 
by the morning express. 
There Avas a quaint aspect about Bristol that Avas 
quite refreshing. As Ave drove through Bedcliffe 
Street, houses so old that Sebastian Cabot might 
have supped there, seemed to lean forward in order 
to take a nearer vieAV of us. Over grey roofs, over 
lofty chimneys, towered the spars of many a ship, en- 
joying a questionable sort of holiday on the stagnant 
waters of the Float. Then, Iioav glorious Avere the 
rocks through which our vessel glided, Avitli a sIoav 
and stately motion ! how green the lovely Avoods of 
Leigh ! Yonder lay Pill, immortalized by Macaulay, 
iioav dozing, as it ahvays does doze in fine weather, on 
the margin of its muddy creek. White and ghost- 
like shone the lighthouse in the evening sunshine ; 
Avider • grew the Channel; the lazy waves gave us 
the kiss of peace as we fleAV onwards between the 
Holmes. One by one the lamps were lit far off in 
the sky ; one by one lights shone out from many a 
Devonshire cottage perched on the slopes of her 
blue hills : it Avas a summer night, in all its glory. 
I had long been a prisoner amongst bricks and 
mortar ; care and work were for the time cast off. 
I was supremely happy, and felt in my inmost 
heart all the power of the sweet spells which nature 
was weaving round me. 
The first sight that met my waking eyes Avas the 
Quay of Waterford. Companies and regiments of 
pigs Avere marching doAvn for embarkation, Avith a 
discipline never attained except by Celtic SAvine, 
and apoplectic oxen Avere patiently waiting their 
turn to go on board. 
“Kar, your honour 1 ? It’s for the station your 
honour is 1 Out of the way, gintlemen ” (to the pigs). 
“ Here I am. Where’s your honour’s luggage V’ 
Three or four “free companions” seized my pro- 
perty, and disappeared in the general melee ; nor 
Avas it Avithout devout thankfulness that, after fight- 
ing my Avay safely through the tumult, I found the 
baggage already packed on the vehicle Avhicli Avas to 
bear me to the station. 
Fortified by breakfast at Cahir, for the second 
time Ave committed ourself and our personals to the 
care of an amiable savage, possessed of a minimum 
of nose and a maximum of mouth, and set out on 
the next stage of our journey. The great mountain 
tract which extends from Waterford on the east 
