108 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



rain at length checked them; the pigs and poultry, too, 

 watched beneath the trees, and were fattened by them ; even 

 the country-people, then labouring under a scarcity of pro- 

 visions, had a way of dressing and living upon them as 

 food." 



A very pretty and attractive visitor is frequently seen in 

 May, lighting the grass and herbage with its tiny green 

 lamp. The Glowworm, as this interesting insect has been 

 named, may be seen from the latter end of this month till 

 August ; its scientific name is Lampyris noctiluca ; the body 

 is long, depressed, and of a soft consistence ; the antennae 

 rather short, and serrated ; the thorax nearly square, and 

 concealing the head. It is the female that emits the light; 

 the male, possessing wings, of which the female is destitute, 

 is thus enabled to find its mate, who would otherwise be 

 concealed from his view. Poets have frequently alluded to 

 this pretty domestic lamp, but many have attributed it to 

 the male : thus Cowper says, 



" This truth divine 

 Is legible and plain ; 

 "Tis power Almighty bids him shine, 

 Nor bids him shine in vain." 



Shakspeare also alludes to it in the following lines : 



