The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



world on a strawberry-plant that grew by 

 accident in a corner of his window; Xavier 

 de Maistre, 1 using an arm-chair by way of 

 post-chaise, made one of the most famous 

 of journeys around his room. 



This manner of seeing country is within 

 my means, always excepting the post-chaise, 

 which is too difficult to drive through the 

 bushes. I go the circuit of my enclosure 

 over and over again, a hundred times, 

 by short stages; I stop here and I stop 

 there; patiently, I put questions and, at 

 long intervals, I receive some scrap of a 

 reply. 



The smallest insect village has become 

 familiar to me: I know each fruit-branch 

 where the Praying Mantis 2 perches; each 

 bush where the pale Italian Cricket 3 strums 

 amid the calmness of the summer nights; 

 each downy plant scraped by the Anthidium, 

 that maker of cotton bags; each cluster of 

 lilac worked by the Megachile, the Leaf-cut- 

 ter. 



1814), author of Paul et Virginie, La Chaumiere idienne 

 and Etudes de la nature. — Translator's Note. 



1 Xavier de Maistre (1763-1852), best known for his 

 Voyage autour de ma chambre (1795). — Translator's 

 Note. 



2 Cf. The Life of the Grasshopper: chaps, vi. to ix. — 

 Translator's Note. 



3 Cf. idem: chap. xvi. — Translator's Note. 



236 



