The Glow-Worm 



and even words, when these are not too long; 

 but nothing more is visible beyond a narrow 

 zone. A lantern of this kind soon tires the 

 reader's patience. 



Suppose a group of Glow-worms placed 

 almost touching one another. Each of them 

 sheds its glimmer, which ought, one would 

 think, to light up its neighbours by reflexion 

 and give us a clear view of each individual 

 specimen. But not at all : the luminous party 

 is a chaos in which our eyes are unable to 

 distinguish any definite form at a medium 

 distance. The collective lights confuse the 

 link-bearers into one vague whole. 



Photography gives us a striking proof of 

 this. I have a score of females, all at the 

 height of their splendour, in a wire-gauze 

 cage in the open air. A tuft of thyme forms 

 a grove in the centre of their establishment. 

 When night comes, my captives clamber to 

 this pinnacle and strive to show off their 

 luminous charms to the best advantage at 

 every point of the horizon, thus forming 

 along the twigs marvellous clusters from 

 which I expected magnificent effects on the 

 photographer's plates and paper. My hopes 

 are disappointed. All that I obtain is white, 

 shapeless patches, denser here and less dense 

 there according to the numbers forming the 

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