. Animal physiology. Physiology, Comparative; Physiology, Comparative. FIRE-FLIES. 307 juring the trachea, the light is not interrupted. All the lumi- nous insects appear to have the power of extinguishing their lights; and this they probably do when alarmed by approach- ing danger. This circumstance is beautifully alluded to, in the following elegant description, by the poet already quoted, of the first effect of the brilliant nocturnal spectacle, presented by these insects in the countries where they abound, upon the British visitors of the New World. " Sorrowing we beheld The night com
. Animal physiology. Physiology, Comparative; Physiology, Comparative. FIRE-FLIES. 307 juring the trachea, the light is not interrupted. All the lumi- nous insects appear to have the power of extinguishing their lights; and this they probably do when alarmed by approach- ing danger. This circumstance is beautifully alluded to, in the following elegant description, by the poet already quoted, of the first effect of the brilliant nocturnal spectacle, presented by these insects in the countries where they abound, upon the British visitors of the New World. " Sorrowing we beheld The night come on ; but soon did night display More wonders than it veiled ; innunierous tribes From the wood-cover swarm'd, and darkness made Their beauties visible : one while they stream'd A bright blue radiance upon flowers that closed Their gorgeous colours from the eye of day ; Now motionless and dark, eluded search, Self-shrouded ; and anon, starring the sky, Rose like a shower of ; The sudden extinction of the light is probably due to the ani- mal's power of voluntarily or instinctively closing the aperture of the trachea. 400. There are a few other Insects not included in these fami- lies, which are reputed to possess luminous powers; and of these the most remarkable are the Fulgorce^ or Lantern-flies, of which one species inhabits Guiana, whilst another is a native of China. These are insects of very remarkable form, having an extraordinary projec- tion upon the head; and this is the part said to be luminous. The autho- rity for the assertion, however, is doubtful; and many Entomologists, who have captured the insect, have denied the phosphorescent power imputed to it. But it is not impossible that the female only may possess it; and that it may only be manifested at one part of the year. One of the common English species of Centipede,. Fig. 163.—Fulgora Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enha
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