

206 THE GLOW-WORM. 



which the divine Architect has thought fit to surround 

 his works ; and perhaps our very aspirations after know- 

 ledge increase in us a sense of our ignorance: every 

 deep investigator into the works of nature can scarcely 

 possess other than an humble mind. 



In all our pursuits we shall find in nature, whereso- 

 ever we can penetrate, a formation, a faculty adapted to 

 all the wants and comforts of the creature, yet the ob- 

 jects of infinite wisdom in the creation of this world 

 of matter, animate and inanimate, will probably never 

 be made known to mankind ; for though knowledge is 

 in a constant progressive state, and the attainments of 

 science in latter years have been comparatively pro- 

 digious, yet these acquirements are in fact but entan- 

 glements : they lead us deeper into surprise and per- 

 plexity, and the little perceptions of light which we 

 obtain serve to show how hopeless any attempt must be 

 to penetrate the secrets of infinity, a conviction, if we 

 " dwell deep in the valley of humility," that will in no 

 manner discourage our pursuits, but rather incite our 

 ardor to investigate so exhaustless a store, which will 

 lead us, from contemplation, to admiration, to devotion. 



That pretty sparkler of our summer evenings, so 

 often made the plowboy's prize, the only brilliant that 

 glitters in the rustic's hat, the glow-worm (lampyris 

 noctiluca), is not found in such numbers with us, as in 

 many other places, where these signal tapers glimmer 

 upon every grassy bank ; yet, in some seasons, we have 

 a reasonable sprinkling of them. Every body probably 

 knows, that the male glow-worm is a winged, erratic 

 animal, yet may not have seen him. He has ever been 

 a scarce creature to me, meeting perhaps with one or 

 two in a year; and, when found, always a subject of 

 admiration. Most creatures have their eyes so placed 

 as to be enabled to see about them ; or, as Hook says 

 of the house-fly, to be "circumspect animals;" but this 

 male glow-worm has a contrivance, by which any up- 

 ward or side vision is prevented. Viewed when at rest, 

 no portion of his eyes is visible, but the head is margined 

 with a horny band, or plate, being a character of one of 

 the genera of the order coleoptera, under which the 



