170 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 24, NO. 7-8, OCT. -NOV., 1922 



So amusing is Hood that there is a temptation to multiply 

 quotations in his case. The following is from verses entitled 

 "No": 



"No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, 



No comfortable feel in any member 

 No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, 

 No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, 

 November!" 



The wider the range of a poet's imaginative sympathy, the 

 more apt he is to draw upon the resources of animate nature as an 

 aid to expression. Thus it is with Tennyson, whose catholicity 

 in this respect is well illustrated by such extremes as the tinkling, 

 melodious absurdity of "The Goose," and the stately dignity 

 of "In Memoriam" or that romantic epical series, "The Idylls 

 of the King. " In the full gamut of poetical expression run by 

 this author there occur a score or more of allusions to insect life 

 and at least one complete poem dedicated to "The Grass- 

 hopper." Even the prejudiced mind of the entomologist will 

 not fail to appreciate the beautiful diction of these verses, in spite 

 of the fact that he finds his hereditary enemy disguised as: 



"Voice of the summer wind, 

 Joy of the summer plain, 

 Life of the summer hours," 



and farther on a description of the innocent life of the insect: 



"What hast thou to do with evil 



In thine hour of love and revel, 



* * * * 



Shooting, singing, ever springing 

 In and out the emerald glooms, 

 Ever leaping, ever singing, 

 Lighting on the golden blooms?" 



In the opening lines of this poem, the following occurs, "No 

 Tithon thou as poets feign." This alludes to the Greek legend 

 of the demi-god Tithonus, who was granted immortality but 

 who inadvertently omitted to request a grant of perpetual youth, 

 and having grown old, was transformed into a grasshopper by 

 his faithless wife, Eos, goddess of the dawn. Evidently she was 

 a cruel woman who effected his transformation before break- 

 fast, judging by the prodigious appetite transmitted to his 

 descendants! 



In Hiawatha, Longfellow has made generous use of insect 

 life and perhaps the most interesting reference relates to the 

 hero's conquest of Megissogwan, who was described by Nokomis 



as: 



"He, the mightiest of magicians, 



Sends the fever from the marshes, 



***** 



Sends disease and death among us!" 



