Volume 29, Plate XXII / Entomology (Insects)

Fulgora Laternaria & F. Castresii

1. Fulgora Later­naria. The genus Fulgora, first called Laternaria by Linnaeus, is among the most remarkable of its order, comprising chiefly large insects of warm or brilliant colour distinguished by the extraordinary prolongation of the forehead. Long reputed luminous and called fire-flies or lantern-flies, the larger kinds are doubted by recent travellers though older testimony favours the property; the figured New World species, found plentifully in Cayenne and Surinam, is called the crocodile snake, flies swiftly, and is most active at twilight.
2. Fulgora Castresii. Recently made known and perhaps only an interesting variety, this insect is chiefly distinguished from F. laternaria by a head narrower than the thorax and more than twice longer than broad, with hemelytra of yellowish-green variegated with black over the whole surface. This magnificent insect is a native of Mexico and still rare in collections, its specific name given in honour of Colonel Castres, an enlightened patron of natural history.