140 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



many hundreds if possible by different observers, 

 are needed before we can say positively that the male 

 glow-worm fears or is repelled by the light. But 

 some of my observations make me think that the 

 male of the glow-worm, like the males of many other 

 species in different orders that fly by night, is drawn 

 to the female by the scent, and that the light is a 

 hindrance instead of a help, although in the end he 

 is drawn into it. We always find it exceedingly hard 

 to believe that anything in nature is without a use ; 

 but we need not go very far not farther than our 

 own bodies, to say nothing of our minds before we 

 are compelled to believe that it is so. We may yet 

 find that the beautiful light of our still companion 

 of the dew is of no more use to it than the precious 

 jewel in the toad's head is to the toad. 



The hornet, one of my first favourites, has, to our 

 minds, nothing mysterious like our glow-worm, and 

 nothing serpentine or supernatural in him, but he 

 is a nobler, more powerful, and splendid creature 

 than any dragon-fly. I care not to look at a vulgar 

 wasp nor at any diurnal insect, however fine, when he 

 is by, or his loud, formidable buzzing hum is heard. 

 As he comes out of the oak tree shade and goes 

 swinging by in his shining golden red armature, he 

 is like a being from some other hotter, richer land, 

 thousands of miles away from our cold, white cliffs 

 and grey seas. Speaking of that, our hornet, which is 

 at the head of the family and genus of true wasps in 



