314 Wild Life in a Southern County 



it would seem to depend on the condition of the 

 atmosphere. 



I once noticed what looked like a glowworm on a 

 window-blind at night, but there was no glowworm there ; 

 the light was of a pale greenish hue. In the morning an 

 examination showed that the linen was decayed and almost 

 rotten just in that particular spot, and it had slightly 

 turned colour. Glowworms are uncommon in the district 

 which has been more particularly described. 



The ignis fatuus is almost extinct; so much so that 

 Jack-o'-the-Lantern has died out of the village folk-lore. 

 On one occasion, however, I saw what at a distance seemed 

 a bright light shining in a ditch where two hedges met. 

 Thinking some mischief was going on, I went to the spot, 

 when the light disappeared ; but on retiring, after a search 

 which proved that no one was about, it came into view 

 again. A second time I approached, and a second time 

 the light died out. A few nights afterwards it was there 

 again, and must clearly have been some kind of ignis 

 fatuus. There was a small quantity of stagnant water in 

 the ditch, and a good deal of rotting wood branches 

 fallen from trees. 



One of the most interesting phenomena in connection 

 with the weather seems to me to be the radiation of clouds. 

 It appears to be more commonly visible in the evening, 

 and, when fully developed, there is a low bank on the 

 horizon, roughly arched, from which streamers of cloud 

 trail right across the sky, through the zenith and down to 

 the horizon opposite. Near each horizon these streamers 

 or lines almost touch; overhead they are wider apart an 

 effect of perspective, I suppose. Often the lines do not 

 stretch so far, hardly to the zenith, where they spread out 

 like a fan. If the sun has gone down, and the cloud 



