THE NATURALISTS’ COMPANION. 
147 
the steamer stopped, when we again 
took to the watei. I must relate an ex¬ 
ploit of the Professor’s while on the 
launch, which is a good story, but 
nevertheless true. An Eagle was sitting 
on the top of a giant pine which rose 
for more than a hundred feet into the 
air. He thought he would try a shot at 
it, so, with the steamer going ahead full 
speed, fired. 4'he bullet (which, by the 
way, was a 44 ) picked the branch right 
out from under his Eagleship, who acted 
very much amazed at such a proceeding. 
Towards sunset we arrived at the mouth 
of Foliingsby’s Brook, which is the out¬ 
let to Foliingsby’s Pond. But this 
brook—I never shall forget it. It was 
scarcely three feet wide, and in shape 
rivaled the most crooked line ever made. 
No use of getting out and towing your 
canoe, for if you got on land you would 
go in mud up to your waist, which would 
not be very pleasant. After a mile and 
a half of this pleasant paddle, or rather 
push, we arrived at Follingsbys Pond, 
the scenery of which well repaid us for 
our trouble. Putting up the tent and 
building a good fire, we had supper; 
and eight o’clock found us in the land 
of dreams. 
TO BE CONTINUED. 
Luminosity of Insecfts. 
BY CHAS. D. PENDELL, WAVERLY, N. Y. 
Luminosity or phosphorescence is 
common to many substances, especially 
to decaying animal and vegetable mat¬ 
ter. In the tropical seas, is a minute 
animal resembling a very small cylinder 
of glowing phosphorous, which some¬ 
times occurs in such numbers that the 
ocean appears like an immense molten 
sea of fire. Dr. Phipson relates that he 
has found a species of the rhizopoda, 
NOcTiLUCA MiLiARis, a minute animal 
very common in the English Channel, 
“in such prodigious numbers in the 
damp sand at Ostend, that on rising a 
handful of it, it appeared like so much 
molten lava.” These examples illus¬ 
trate a remarkable phenomenon by no 
means confined to marine life. It is 
slightly manifest in a laige number of 
beetles and some moths; but in certain 
species of insedls this is exhibited to 
a surprising degree. 
The common glow worm is the wing¬ 
less female of a certain coleopterous in- 
se 6 f. The male emits this jdiosphores- 
ence slightly, but in the female it is 
quite strong; and it is probable that it 
can display or extinguish its light at 
pleasure. The habits of the insedl are 
nocturnal and it is generally to be found 
during the summer months among grass 
or on mossy banks. If the luminous 
portion be placed in hydrogene gas it 
causes quite a detonation. 
Every one has seen the common fire¬ 
fly, which causes our lawns to assume 
the appearance of a starry firmament. 
This interesting insedt is widely scatter¬ 
ed on this continent and a similar vari¬ 
ety is found in Europe. 
But in tropical America, where insedl 
life reaches the acme of developement, 
there are phosphorescent insedts of far 
superior splendor. There we find the 
great lantern-fly which has two prolon¬ 
gations from its forhead that gleam with 
a brilliancy sufficient to enable one to 
lead the smallest print. By placing 
several of these luminous beetles togeth¬ 
er in a glass bottle their monstrous heads 
will furnish sufficient light for the liimi- 
nation of a room. 
The West India Islands are also in¬ 
habited by several species of this re- 
