
HEMIPTERA. 116 
from my fright, I caught all my insects again, and admired this 
singular property of Deis? 
| Since the time when Mlle de Mérian visited Guyana, differ- 
ent travellers have said that they could not observe, as she did, 
this phosphorescent phenomenon. It is, then, probable that this 
property only exists in the male or female insect, and then only 
at certain seasons. 
| What a marvellous spectacle must the rich valleys of Guyana 
present, when in the stillness of the night the air is filled with 
living torches ; when the Fulgore flying about in space the flashes 
of a Cross en other, go out and blaze up again, shine brightly 
and then die out, and present, on a calm evening, the appear- 
ance of those lightning flashes which only show themselves 
generally in the sky! 
_ Let us now go on to another interesting insect of the order of 
which we are treating, the Aphrophora, without being frightened 
by its disagreeable name, for there are many other names we may 
give it if we choose, among those by which it is popularly known. 
In the months of June and J uly, one sees on nearly every tree 
md on plants of the most different kinds a sort of white froth, 
pomposed of air bubbles, deposited on the leaves and branches. 
[t is produced by an insect which the peasants in France call, 
‘Crachat de Coucou, and which is called in England, Cuckoo’s 
spittle, or, Ecwme printaniére (spring froth). De Geer carefully 
studied the metamorphoses of this insect. The Aphrophora (from 
idpds, foam, and ¢épe, I bear or carry) is lodged in the froth of 
which we have just been speaking. It lives in it, only leaving it 
when it has its wings. De Geer wondered why this insect con- 
fines itself during the whole of its life in liquid, and concludes 
that the froth has the effect of protecting the insect from the 
purning heat of the sun. This covering seems also to protect it 
rom the attacks of carnivorous insects and spiders. On the other 
jand, its skin is without doubt so constituted that it would perspire 
00 freely if it were exposed to the air, and the inseet would very 
oon die dried up. Whatever explanation may be given of the 
lecessity for this semi-aérial, semi-liquid medium, it is easy to 
verity the fact that the larva of the Aphrophora cannot live long 
ut of its frothy envelope. If withdrawn from it, the volume of 
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