72 TlMEHRI. 
without being able to decide which was the finer, or 
which should be the more admired, There are some 
beautiful allusions to fire-flies on the landscape in the 
second part of Southey's " Madoc" and other poetical 
works, and from among these I have selected the follow- 
ing lines which have been quoted oftener than once, for 
insertion here : — 
" Sorrowing we beheld 
The night come on ; but soon did night display 
More beauties than it veiled ; innumerous tribes 
From the wood-cover swarmed, and darkness made 
Their beauties visible ; one while they streamed 
A bright blue radiance upon flowers that closed 
Their gorgeous colours from the eye of day ; 
Now motionless and dark eluded search, 
Self-shrouded ; and anon starring the sky, 
Rose like a shower of fire". 
The Buprestidae also belong to the serricorn sub-division, 
but unlike the Elateridae they are incapable of leaping. 
The word Buprestis is derived from the Greek words 
bous> an ox, and pretho, I inflame. These insects are 
distinguished by their bright metallic colours, azure, 
emerald, and gold. They were known to the old ento- 
mologists as euchroma, i.e. beautiful colour. The most 
important species of this insect so far as British Guiana 
is concerned, is the Buprestis gigantea of which there 
are several varieties. The typical form comes from 
Cayenne, and is most common in collections. Another 
form is found in Para, and a third in British Guiana. 
This beetle is oval-shaped, nearly two inches long and 
about an inch broad. Its elytra or wing-cases are of a 
brilliant copper-colour with marginal and sutural regions 
green, but its whole colour varies a good deal according 
to the light in which a specimen is viewed. The Indians 
