176 USES OF INSECT LIGHT. 



detected, no jury have tried, no judge have sentenced, would 

 have been glowworms in the grass, or centipedes in the earth, 

 laying (Fawkes-like) their trains of combustion underground ! 



But have luminous insects the positive quality of use, as 

 well as the negative attribute of being harmless? In common 

 with all created things undoubtedly they have, and to them- 

 selves their luminaries serve clearly some important purpose, 

 however we may yet be in the dark as to their exact mode of 

 appliance. Nor, as regards mankind, are these " diamonds of 

 the night" altogether without their value, having, as such, 

 been made in several countries subservient both to ornament 

 and use. 



While our native glowworms have begemmed no other 

 beauty but that of the sleeping wild-flowers, the tropic fire- 

 flies have sparkled in dark tresses, and been rivalled by flashing 

 eyes, have been employed by the gay in the decoration of 

 festive garments, and by the grave in the conning of small 

 print. The Perc du Tertre, in his history of the Antilles, 

 speaks of reading his Breviary by the light of one of these 

 living lamps. The natives of St. Domingo, and other islands, 

 are also said to have used them literally as "a light to their 

 feet and a lantern to their paths," by attacliing one to each 

 foot when travelling by night, employing them also in the 

 lighting of their habitations. Fire-flies serve, besides, the 

 important purpose of destroying mosquitos, which are their 

 favourite prey. 



