alas! no more. And I must soon follow them; for by the course of nature, though still in health, I cannot expect to live above seven or eight minutes longer: what now avails all my toil and labour, in amassing honey-dew on this leaf, which I cannot live to enjoy! What the political struggles I have been engaged in for the good of my compatriot inhabitants of this bush, or my philosophical studies for the benefit of our race in general! for in politics (what can laws do without morals?), our present race of Ephemera will, in a course of minutes, become corrupt, like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched; and in philosophy how small our progress! Alas! art is long, and life is short! My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name, they say I shall leave behind me, and they tell me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory. But what will fame be to an Ephemera who no longer exists? And what will become of all history in the eighteenth hour, when the world itself, even the whole Moulin Joli, shall come to its end, and be buried in an universal ruin ?"

N

FILARIA.

THIS very remarkable insect inhabits the Indies, and is frequent in the morning dew, whence it enters the naked feet of the slaves, and creates the most troublesome itchings, accompanied with inflammation and fever. It must be cautiously drawn out, by means of a piece of silk tied round its head, for if the animal should break, the remaining part grows with redoubled vigour, and is often fatal. In size it is of great length, and not thicker than a horse-hair.

FIRE-FLY.-FULGORA.

Soult Arr rice.

[LANTERN-FLY of the East-Indies.]

THESE flies are common in Guiana, of which there are two species. The largest is more than an inch in length, having a very large head, connected with the body by a joint of a particular structure, with which sometimes it makes a loud knock, particularly when laid on its back. The fly has two feelers, or horns, two wings and six legs. Under its belly is a circular patch, which in the dark shines like a candle; and on each side of the head, near the eyes, is a promi

nent globular, luminous body, in size about one third larger than a mustard-seed. Each of these bodies is like a living star, emitting a bright, and not small light: since two or three of these animals, put into a glass vessel, afford a light sufficient to read without difficulty, if placed close to the book. When the fly is dead, these bodies will still afford considerable light, though it is less vivid than before; and if bruised and rubbed over the hands or face, they become luminous in the dark, like a board smeared over with English phosphorus. They are of a reddish brown or chesnut colour; and live in rotten trees in the day, but are always abroad in the night.

The other kind is not more than half as large as the former: their light proceeds from under their wings, and is seen only when they are elevated, like sparks of fire appearing or disappearing at every second. Of these the air is full in the night, though they are never seen in the day. They are common not only in the southern, but in the northern parts of America, during summer. The Fulgora Lanternaria, or Peruvian

Lantern Fly, is undoubtedly one of the most curious of insects. It is of a very considerable size, measuring nearly three inches and a half from wing's end to wing's end, when expanded. The body is of a lengthened oval shape, and divided into several rings or segments; the head is nearly equal to the length of the rest of the animal, and is oval, inflated, and bent slightly upwards: the ground colour is an elegant yellow, with a strong tinge of green in some parts, and marked with numerous bright red-brown variegations in the form of stripes and spots; the wings are very large, of a yellow colour, most elegantly varied with brown undulations and spots, and the lower pair are decorated with a very large eye-shaped spot on the middle of each, the iris or border of the spot being red, and the centre half red, and half semi-transparent white. The head, or lantern, is pale yellow, with longitudinal red stripes. This beautiful insect is a native of Surinam, and many other parts of South America, and during the night diffuses so strong a phosphoric splendour from its head or lantern, that it may be employed for the