124 L A M 
the lame perfons.'and that Spartianus is the third name of 
Lampridius. Neither the ftyle nor arrangement of this 
writer'will allow him a place among tire fuperior clafs of 
hiltorians; but he is valuable for his farts. His lives make 
a part of the Hiflroriae Auguftse Scriptores. Vqjjii Hijl. Lat. 
LAMPROPH'OBUS, f. [from Aa/zwgo;, lhining, and 
<p£ gu, I bear.] An appellation anciently given to the neo¬ 
phytes, during the feven days tliat fucceeded their bap- 
tilin. In the ceremony of baptifm, the new Chriftian 
tvas clothed with a white robe, which he wore for the 
week following; and was thence called lampropkorus, 
which fignifies “a perfon wearing a lhining garment.” 
The Greeks alfo gave this name to the day of the refur- 
rertion, becaufe their houfes were adorned and illuminated 
on that day with a great number of torches, as a fymbol 
of the light which that myftery diffufed in the world. 
LAMP'SACHUS, in ancient geography, now Lamfaki, 
a town of Afia Minor on the borders of the Propontis at 
the north of Abydos. Priapus was the chief deity of the 
place, of which he was reckoned by fome the founder. 
His temple there was the afylum of lewdnefs and debau¬ 
chery, and exhibited feenes of the mod unnatural luft; 
and hence the epithet LampJ'acius is ufed to exprels immo- 
delty and wantonnefs. Alexander refolved to deftroy the 
city on account of the vices of its inhabitants, or more 
probably for its firm adherence to the intereft of Perfia. 
It was, however, faved from ruin by the artifice of Anax¬ 
imenes. (See vol. i. p. 672.) It was formerly called Pi- 
tynfa, and received the name of Lampfacus, from Lamp- 
faces, a daughter of Mandron, a king of Phrygia, who 
gave information to fome Phoceans who dwelt there, that 
the reft of the inhabitants had conlpired againft their life. 
This timely information faved them from deftrurtion ; 
and the city afterwards bore the name of their preferver. 
LAMPSAMANT)US, in ancient geography, a fmall 
ifland of Afia, on the coaft of Caria, in the Ceramic gulf. 
Pliny. 
LAMP'SANA, f. in botany. See Crepis, Hyoseris, 
and Lapsano. 
LAMPTE'RIA,yi A feftival at Pellene in Achaia, in 
honour of Bacchus, who was furnamed Lampter from 
Xa//w£n, to fhine, becaufe during this folemnity, which 
was obferved in the night, the worfliippers went to the 
temple of Bacchus with lighted torches in their hands. 
LAMPU'JUM,/! in botany. See Amomum zerumbet. 
LAMPY'RIS, f. in entomology, the Fire-fly and 
Glow-worm ; a genus of coleopterous inferts, remark¬ 
able for emitting light. The generic characters are—An¬ 
tenna; filiform ; feelers four; wing-fheaths flexile; thorax 
flat, femiorbicular, furrounding and concealing the head; 
fegments of the abdomen terminating in folded papillae ; 
female (ufually) winglefs. 
The fpecies of this genus are rather numerous; the 
greater part are natives of Africa and America ; a few 
only inhabit Europe, and of thefe but three kinds are 
found in Britain, two of which are rare. The females of 
the fpecies raoft commonly known are deftitute of wings; 
all thefe fliine during the obfeurity of the evening, or at 
night, and fome of the males pofleis the fame ability. The 
males throughout all the fpecies are furnifhed with wings; 
the females, on the contrary, are always apterous. The 
luminous property refides in the two or three pofterior 
rings of the abdomen, and is only vifible on the under 
furface. In the day-time the luminous lpace appears paler, 
and more inclining to yellow, than the reft of the infert; 
the light, when emitted, partakes of various hues, being 
either a clear brilliant white, or white tinged with green- 
ifli or bluifh ; and this it can vary or heighten in brilliancy 
at pleafure, as it does not depend on any external caufe; 
it is an inherent ability, governed only by the will or ca¬ 
price of its poffeifor; and, according to the general per- 
fuafion of naturalifts, is an ordinance of nature, by means 
of which the males, in their excurfions through the air, 
can readily difeover their apterous crawling mates among 
the grafs and herbage beneath them. 
LAM 
The lampyrides of our country are found moll com¬ 
monly about the months of June and July, appearing 
among the bullies, the grafs and herbage on the fkirts of 
lanes leading through meadows, and woody fituations. 
The males of fome kinds, as before intimated, are lumi¬ 
nous ; and thefe, when on the wing during the night 
time, exhibit a moft lively and fplendid afpert, like fo 
many fparks of fire darting through the air. The females 
nearly refemble the larva;, being of a lengthened form, 
divided into a number of diltinrt fegments, the head 
fcaly, and the anterior part of the body furnilhed with 
fix fcaly feet. The larva; feed on leaves. The eggs, 
which are numerous, are ufually depofited near the roots 
of grafs. 
Among the ancients, the names lampyris, noHihica, cicin~ 
dela, See. were beftowed, without dilcrimination, on al- 
moft every creature of the infert tribe poffefiing the lu¬ 
minous property of the glow-worm. Geoffroy endea¬ 
voured to unite the lampyrides together, but with thefe 
he confounded fome other genera. Linnaeus alfo blended 
them with the lycus and pyrochroa; and Schaeffer follow¬ 
ed Geoffroy. Fabricius adopted the Lampyris genus, 
with fome material deviations from either; and his autho¬ 
rity is, in this refpect, rather generally approved. Lin¬ 
naeus, fo lately as the 10th edition of the Syft. Nat. con¬ 
founds the Lampyrides under the genus Cantharis ; it is 
in a fubfequent edition they appear under the name of 
Lampyris, with characters which include the genera Oina- 
lylfus of Geoffroy, Coffyphus of Olivier, Pyrochroa of 
Geoffroy and Fabricius, and the Lycus of Olivier and 
fome other modern authors; as will appear from the fol¬ 
lowing divifions. 
I. Feelers fubclavate. Lampyris. 
1. Lampyris noftiluca, the common glow-worm. Spe¬ 
cific character, body oblong, brown ; fhield cinereous; 
lip horny, entire. This curious animal (we mean the fe¬ 
male) meafures about three quarters of an inch in length, 
and is of a dull earthy brown colour on the upper parts, 
and beneath more or lefs tinged with rofe-colour, with 
the two or three laft joints of the body of a pale or whitifh 
fulphur-colour. It is from thefe parts that the light pro¬ 
ceeds, which is of a yellow colour, with a very flight caft 
of green. The body, exclufive of the thorax, confifts of 
ten joints or divifions. The larva, pupa, and complete 
female infert, fcarcely differ perceptibly from each other 
in general appearance ; but the phofphoric light is ftrong- 
eft in the complete animal. 
The glow-worm is a flow-moving infert, and in its 
manner of walking frequently feems to drag itfelf on by 
ftarts or flight efforts as it were. The male is fmaller 
than the female, and is provided both with wings and 
wing-flieaths: it is but rarely feen, and it feems, even at 
prefent, not very clearly determined whether it be lumi¬ 
nous or not. The female depofits her eggs, which are 
fmall and yellowifh, on the leaves of grafs, Sec. 
The luminous appearance of the glow-worm has at va¬ 
rious periods excited confiderable curiofity in the minds of 
fpeculative men. Forfter firft announced that this extraor¬ 
dinary property was fo ftrong and retentive, that he could difi. 
tinrtly read by the light emitted from glow-worms plunged 
into oxygen gas. The fame experiment was verified by 
Beckerhiem, who proved befides that they live a long time 
in other kinds of gas, and continued to fhed their light 
vigoroufly, as in the oxygen gas. With the acid, the ni¬ 
trous, muriatic, and fulphureous, gafes, he did not how¬ 
ever fucceed fo well; when placed in either of thefe, the 
inlerts died in a few minutes. A variety of other expe¬ 
riments have been made on the lampyrides by Spallan¬ 
zani, Carradori, and others ; the refult of which proves, 
among other curious circumftances, that this luminous 
property is inherent. Thefe inferts were obferved to pof* 
fefs the power of moving various portions of the vifeera, 
independently of the others; and it was likewife afeer- 
tained that a portion of the luminous rings of the abdo¬ 
men. 
