


















HEMIPTERA. 
The Fulgore feem to have been entirely unknown in Europe till the latter end of the laft century ; 
when two writers publifhed defcriptions and figures of Fu/gora Lanternaria. Madame Merian, of Holland, 
in her fplendid work on the Metamorphofis of the Infeéts of Surinam, and Dr. Grew, of London, in his 
Rarities of Grefham College. 
Reaumur » is the next author who defcribed the Fu/gora Lanternaria, and after him Roefel, in his 
“ Amufing Hiftory (or recreation) of Infeéts*.” This brings us to the period in which Fu/gora Candelaria, 
our Chinefe {pecies, was firft known in Europe: a circumftance of much importance to naturalifts at that 
time, becaufe the firft mentioned {pecies was a folitary example of its fingular genus. The tranfactions of 
the Stockholm academy includes the earlieft figure and defcription of this extraordinary infe@t; from thefe 
Linnzeus defcribed it in his Syfema Nature; but his arrangement has undergone many alterations fince 
that time. At firft he included it among the Coleopterous infeéts; then he called them Lanternarie; and 
again, they were claffed with the Cicade. ‘Thefe have been fince corrected, and a new genus formed of 
infects with elongated trunks on their foreheads exclufively, under the name Fulgora, a name that has been 
adopted by later authors, and finally by Fabricius. 
Roefel has given three figures and a defcription of the Ful/gora Candelaria; from his account we 
learn that it was known in England before he was acquainted with it. On its peculiar qualities, he 
obferves he mutt be entirely filent, becaufe he had been unable to derive any information concerning it; 
his defcription is notwithftanding extremely prolix, and occupies four quarto pages; as he notices every 
trifling particular of the f{pots, colours, &c. of the infect. We have felected the moft interefting paffage, 
becaufe it clearly marks the progreflive advancement of the knowledge of natural hiftory in Europe, fo 
late as the middle of the prefent century. 
« According to my promife,” fays Roefel ¢, “ I now produce the fecond fort of Lantern-carrier, which 
I never faw before; and of which I have never read in any work on infects. The fcarcer however it may 
be, the more I am indebted to Mr. Beurer, apothecary of this place e, &c. for the permiffion he has granted 
me to draw and enrich my colleétion with it. Mr. Collinfon has fent it to him from London, under the 
name Lanternaria Chinenfis, for which reafon I have called it the Afiatic or Chinefe Lantern-carrier.” 
Roefel being a refpectable entomological writer of his time, we muft infer that Fulgora Candelaria was 
extremely fcarce in Europe when his plate and defcriptions were publifhed. The commercial concerns of 
Europeans with the Chinefe having greatly increafed fince that period, has facilitated many inquiries con- 
cerning the natural productions of China; and amongft a variety of other infects that are now ufually 
brought from that country, fpecimens of Fulgora Candelaria are not uncommon. In China few infeéts are 
‘found in greater abundance. 
b Memoires pour fervir a l’Hiftoire des Infectes. 1731. 
© Infecten Beluftigung. 
d Verfprochener maffen liefere ich nunmehr die zwente Sorte des Lanternen-Tragers, &c. Vol. 1. pl. 30. Locuft, page 189. 
€ .Nurenberg. 
