Y 



382 INSECTS. 



or not. The general idea among naturalists has been that it is not, 

 and that the splendour exhibited by the female in this species is 

 ordained for the purpose of attracting the male. This circumstance 

 is elegantly expressed in some beautiful lines of Mr. Gilbert White, 

 in his History of Selburne. 



'* The chilling night-dews fall ; away, retire ; 

 For see, the glow-worm lights her am'rous fire ! 

 Thus, ere night's veil had half-obscur'd the sky, 

 Th' impatient damsel hung her lamp on high ; 

 True to the signal, by love's meteor led, 

 Leauder hasten'd to his Hero's bed." 



Dr. Darwin also, in his admired poem the Botanic Garden, com- 

 memorates the splendour of the glow-worm among other pheno- 

 mena supposed to be produced under the superintendance of the 

 nymphs of fire. 



61 You with light gas the lamps nocturnal feed 

 That dance and glimmer o'er the marshy mead ; 

 Shine round Calendula at twilight hours, 

 And tip with silver all her saffron flowers ; 

 Warm on her mossy couch the radiant worm, 

 Guard from cold dews her love-illumin'd form, 

 From leaf to leaf conduct the virgin light, 

 Star of the earth, and diamond of the night!" 



It is certain that in some species of this genus the male as well as 

 the female is luminous, as in the lampyris italica, which seems to 

 be a native of our own island also, though less common here than 

 in the warmer parts of Europe. Aldrovandus describes the winged 

 glow-worm as having its wing-shells of a dusky colour, and at 

 the end of the body two brilliant fiery spots like the flame of 

 sulphur. 



In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1684, we find a 

 paper by a Mr. Waller, describing the English flying glow-worm as 

 of a dark colour, with the tail part very luminous : he maintains 

 that both male and female of this species are winged, aud that the 

 female is larger than the male : the light of this insect was very 

 vivid, so as to be plainly perceived even when a candle was in the 



