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beetle, and the allusions to it from Shakespeare downwards are too 

 numerous for mention here. The light from the Glowworm pro- 

 ceeds from the underside of the last three segments of the body, 

 and in the unmounted specimen shown to you these segments are 

 to be recognised by their lighter colour. The Glowworm seems 

 to have the power of retaining or emitting this light at will, for 

 sometimes on being disturbed the light disappears, and it is only 

 after remaining quiet for a lengthened period that the lamp is again 

 lit. The light of the male is not of the same broad brilliant 

 nature as the female, but proceeds from two tiny spots on each 

 side of the abdomen. Dear old Gilbert White says the lamps are 

 put out about eleven o'clock. We should advise you all who have 

 the chance, to introduce the Glowworm to your gardens, not alone 

 from the fact of its being such an interesting insect, but during its 

 larval condition it lives entirely on snails and slugs — often eating 

 the poor snail out of its shell, which affords no protection to the 

 attacks of the Glowworm larva. From the nature of its food, the 

 larva often gets covered with slime; but nature has provided a 

 remedy for this, in the shape of some seven or eight whisks, which 

 are protruded from the end of the tail at will, and which are used 

 to clear the slime from the body. 



We have now come to the last beetle, and unfortunately there 

 is no occasion to leave the fireside to study it. Even the very 

 chair you are sitting upon may contain it; and too often has 

 lament been made over some old favourite piece of furniture which 

 has become worm-eaten and worthless, through the attacks of the 

 Anobiura Beetles. This beetle is the author of the sounds which 

 give to it the name of the Death Watch or Death Tick, and the 

 terror in which it was held — and is yet in certain districts — is too 

 well known. The mysterious ticking heard in the silent watches 

 of the night, was said to be a warning that some one was going to 

 die; and the effect of this on an invalid, whose mind was 

 thoroughly endued with the superstition, may be imagined ; 

 while it was simply a little beetle giving a love call to its mate. 

 We once had the good fortune to trace the sound to the beetle, 

 generally most difficult to do. We were staying over night 



