Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/86

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58
Insects.

Cyclopsina Rivillii, Baird. Body of animal nearly cylindrical, slightly sinuated on each side, about the middle of first articulation. Tail short. Antennae very long, nearly double the length of the body, numerously articulated, and covered with long setæ. The last articulation of tail is bifurcated, each division giving out four rather long filaments, which are strongly and beautifully plumose or feathered; these plumose filaments could be distinctly seen by the naked eye, and form a very marked character of the species.


a. Cyclopsina Slabbed. b. Cyclopsina Rivillii. The lines show the respective sizes.


Inhabits the North Atlantic Ocean. "May 22, 1832, in lat. 10° 53' N. long. 20° 30' W., the water appearing luminous during the night, I drew up a bucket-full to be examined in the morning." "Found several animalcules in the water drawn up last night, one of which is the species described above."—Private Journal.

M. Godeheu de Riville, in a paper on the luminousness of the sea published in the Mem. Savans Etrang. vol. iii., describes an insect which he caught in the sea off Ceylon, and found to be luminous in the water, which very closely resembles this species, (vide p. 275, t. 10, fig. 5). He gives it two eyes, and the whole figure is exaggerated, but the plumose tail is given with very considerable accuracy, and I have little doubt it is the same species as the one here described. He calls it, from the extreme beauty of the tail, the "Paon de Mer." M. de Riville (after whom I have named the species), says "the plume with which the tail is ornamented deserves particular attention. The extremity of the body is terminated by a fork, each branch of which has a projection, to which are attached four true plumes of a rose co-