Oithona splendens, Baird. Body long and rather slender. Tail tapering. Long antennae about the length of the body of insect, numerously articulated, and furnished with numerous very short setae or prickles: the upper short antennae are terminated by a bundle of rather long setae. First segment of body long. Last articulation of tail terminated by several short setae or filaments.
Inhabits the South Atlantic Ocean. Off the Cape of Good Hope.
"June 18, 1832, in lat. 36° S. long. 10° E. Observing in forenoon large flocks of the bird called the snow petrel by sailors, flying about and very low on surface of water, hauled up a bucket-full from alongside, and found a great many Cyclopes in it, one of which was the species here figured." "June 23rd, lat. 38° S. long. 31° E. The sea this evening was very luminous. While drawing up a bucket of water from alongside, in addition to numerous bright spots in the water, there was one adhering to the rope near the neck of the bucket. At first, the moment it was withdrawn from out of the water, this spot appeared about the size of a crown piece or dollar. As the water however left the rope and it became a little drier, the spot became smaller, but still of a beautiful luminousness and of a slight bluish tinge. Upon bringing it to the light I found, to my no small surprise, that this large and bright mass of fire proceeded from a small species of Cyclops. I removed it with a pencil from the rope, and placed it in a tumbler- full of water, in which there was also another specimen taken from the same bucket. It was very lively, and when the glass was removed to a dark place, these two little creatures again began to be distinctly luminous. Upon examining them by the microscope I found them both to belong to the same species, and that they were exactly the same as that taken and figured on the 18th of June."—Private Journal. W. Baird.
To the north of the quiet little village of Hawley, in Hampshire, is a wood, about a mile and a half in length by a quarter of a mile in breadth; it is composed of fir, with the exception of about one hundred yards at the end towards the village, and terminates in an abrupt sloping sand-bank with a southern aspect, forming altogether one of the most desirable localities which any collector of Hymenoptera
