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



No one will deny the power of the lines, but the expression 

 "glow-worm of the grave" is misleading from an entomologist's 

 point of view, although no doubt some unfortunate glow-worms 

 are compelled, through the carelessness of their forebears, to 

 dwell in graveyards. Fortunately, however, most of the refer- 

 ences to these harmless insects are of a much more sane and 

 pleasing kind, such as this, which recalls our childhood days: 



"Oft has she taught them on her lap to play 

 Delighted, with the glow-worm's harmless ray 

 Tossed light from hand to hand; while on the ground 

 Small circles of green radiance gleam around." 



Wordsworth: An Evening Walk, 



Although the winged Lampyridae or fireflies are not so fre- 

 quently mentioned as the glow-worm, several passages are 

 famous and frequently quoted, such as this from Tennyson: 



"Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade, 

 Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid." 



Locksley Hall. 



A single reference to the luminous Elateridae occurs in Whittier: 



"Star-like, beneath whose somber shade, 

 The fiery-winged cucullo played!" 



Voices of Freedom. 



Another group of beetles which has appealed strongly to poets 

 is that of the family Ptinidae, 1 known popularly as "the death- 

 watch." These insects are common in old houses both in this 

 country and Europe, living within the woodwork, where the 

 adult males have the habit of producing a ticking sound, prob- 

 ably by a sharp movement of the head against the surrounding 

 woodwork. This^ sound is vulgarly supposed to portend the 

 death of some inmate of the house, and poets have introduced 

 both the insect and the legend in such scenes as the "Dirge of 

 Wallace": 



"And the lady of Elderslie wept for her lord, 



When a death-watch beat in her lonely room, 

 When her curtain had shook of its own accord; 

 And the raven had flapped at her window-board, 

 To tell of her warrior's doom!" 



Thomas Campbell. 



The same insects, in most cases, constitute the "book-worm" 

 of poets, although these gentry have not recognized this fact, 

 and Thomas Parnell, a 17th century bard (unable to identify 

 the creature), apparently has created a mythical composite, for 

 public edification: 



'Ptinus fur Linn., P. brunneus Dufts. and Sitodrepa panacea Linn. 



