;
J I E M I F T I E R A .
F U X. G 0 U A P Y R O R fi Y N C H U S.
I I E B - T I P P E D F I R E F L Y .
G EN ERIC CHARACTER.
Forehead elongated. Antennæ below th e eyes, and confift o f two articulations. T h e beak or roftruni
bent inwards under the body.
S P E C I F I C C H A R A C T E R .
Trunk afcending, ape.x red. W in g cafes brown, pale acrofs the middle. Wings black, green at the bafe.
F u l g o k a P y k o r h y n c u u s ; fronte roftrata adfcendente apice rnbra, elytris fufcis fafcia palidiore: a lis
nigris bafi viridibus, —ITAT/Gt/Zi/ÎD.
Araongft the more valuable acqaifitions, defigned to enrich this illnftration, few can afford higher
gratification to the fcientific reader than this Fulgora. In fize it is inferior only to F. Lanternaria, it is
an undoubted nondefcript, and may be confidcred as a ftriking example of the entomological riches of a
country hitherto fcarcely known, ih t interior o i Indostan. I t was originally brought from India by the
Jate Governor Holford, and is now in the poffeilion of the author. H e has fought in vain for this fpecies
in other cabinets o f exotic infects, and ventures to deem his fpecimen unique.
In the courfe o f our remarks on the Fulgora fo abundant in China, F. Candelaria, our attention was
naturally directed to the aftonifliing property fome infefils o f this genus are known to poflefs, th a t of
emanating lig h t; and it was to this inle£t we alluded in particular, when fpeaking o f one from interior
India, that enabled us to extend our obfervations on that property. The trunk is large, o f a dark purple,
thickly fprinkled with fpots o f white phofphoric powder, and the apex, which is fcarlet, and fomewhat
pellucid, ftill retains a redcllib glow, that almoft convinces us the creature when living could diffufe light
both from the apex and the fpots. In admitting this conjefturc, without wandering into the marvellous,
its nodurnal appearance muft be infinitely more fingular than either o f the known fpecies o f Fulgora-,
Lampyrides, or any other luminous in fe d yet dilcoA-ered; for, when on the wing, the illuminated apex
would refemble a globule o f fire, or heated iron, and the numberlefs phofphoric fpots on the tube, form
a train of glittering ftars to accompany it *.
* As it may be thought improbable that any infeft can exhibit fuch an extraordinary appearance, the words of Olivier on
fome fpecies of Lampyrides may not be unfatisfaftory. Tlie infcfts arc certainly very dillinfl, but reports of travellers countenance
an opinion that the phofphoric emanations are analogous in the fpecies of both genera. ‘ The phenomena produced
by a natural phofphorus is ftill more wonderful in fome foreign fpecies, in which the males ihine, and being provided with
wings will produce in their rapid flight a thoufand fmall ftars.’ Olhm-, IUJtcin Ja hfichs.