o2 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 
from them. I nourished them with great care, feeding 
them with sugar, their favorite food, but they died in about 
ten days, and with their life disappeared also their light. 
I feel peculiarly grateful to these little insects, because 
during my excursions in St. Domingo they were frequently 
the means of saving my life. Often has dark night sur- 
rounded me in the midst of a desert forest, or on the mount- 
ains, when these little animals were my only guide, and by 
their welcome light I have discovered a path for my horse 
which has led me safely on my journey. Often have I felt 
grateful to a wise Providence for the creation of these lit- 
tle night-illuminators, when all the lamps of heaven were 
shrouded with impenetrable darkness, and when, but for 
their light-giving presence, I should have wandered for 
hours in a dreary forest, or been precipitated from a mount- 
ain ridge down a fathomless abyss. ‘Thrice often have I 
been convinced that no object of Nature was created with- 
out being designed for some important use, and many, many 
times, in my wanderings, have I exclaimed with Southey, 
‘¢Sorrowing we beheld 
The night come on: but soon did night display 
More wonders than it vail’d: innumerous tribes 
From the wood-cover swarmed, and darkness made 
Their beauties visible; a while they streamed 
A bright blue radiance upon flowers that closed 
Their gorgeous colors from the eye of day; 
Then, motionless and dark, eluded search, 
Self-shrouded; and anon, starring the sky, 
Rose like a shower of fire.” 
These Lightning Beetles are found in all the West India 
Islands, in Mexico, and Texas, and how far north they are 
seen I can not exactly ascertain, but several species of 
them, possessing the same luminous qualities, are found in 
the tropics of America. 
Their light is emitted from a phosphorescent substance, 
