AMERICAN EDITOR. 319 



pale spot, composed of the sulphur-colored substance 

 which supplies the tight." 



"The female," says another writer, "deposits her eggs 

 in June or July, among moss or grass. These are yellow 

 in color, and emit a ray of light. In five or six weeks the 

 larvae appear; they are at first white and small, but be- 

 come darker as they increase in size. The body is formed 

 of eleven rings, has six feet, and a double row of reddish 

 spots, emitting light in the dark, from the last ring ; in 

 this stage, the creature creeps about, and the light which 

 accompanies it is of use in showing it the snails, dead in- 

 sects, &c., on which it feeds." They frequently cast their 

 skins, and it is only at the end of twenty-one months that 

 they attain their full size. They then cease to eat, and 

 assume the pupa or second stage of insect life in which 

 they remain two or three weeks, when, throwing off their 

 skin covering, they appear in their complete state : the 

 male a perfect beetle with wings, and wing covers; the 

 female without these appendages, being larger, and emit- 

 ting a brighter light than the larva, from the last three 

 rings of the body. 



It has been proved that the light of the glow-worm " is 

 unsupported by chemical action ; is not connected with 

 animal life ; the luminous matter is not adherent exteriorly, 

 but included in a capsule ; it seems connected with pecul- 

 iar organization, and is suspended by cold. The only 

 control which the insect shows over it, is evinced by with- 

 drawing the luminous matter temporarily from the 

 transparency through which it shines" Murray' j Ex- 

 perimental Researches Philosophical Magazine. 



The glow-worm is seldom seen in Scotland, and is not 

 common beyond the northern counties of England. The 

 light which these insects emit, is of a dull bluish or 

 greenish color, and altogether, the effect they produce 



