170 JUNE. 



regards it as an indicator of time. Macbeth 

 says to his lady, 



Ere to black Hecate's summons, 

 The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums, 

 Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done 

 A deed of dreadful note. 



But, independent of poetic associations, this 

 insect is of real utility to the agriculturist. By 

 perforating the earth underneath the dung of 

 animals, he becomes a valuable agent, rendering 

 that which would be deleterious in the mass 

 productive by dispersion. 



Lampyris noctiluca. The bulk of entomo- 

 logists have copied each other in the error of 

 asserting that the female glow-worm alone is 

 luminous ; at any rate, all the males taken in 

 this county (and they are unquestionably of 

 this species), have had luminous segments to 

 the abdomen. 



Cryptorhynchus Lapathi. This insect, in its 

 larva state, does incredible mischief in osier- 

 holts: the basket-makers call it the weevil- 

 maggot. I am informed, by a cultivator of 

 osiers, that the perfect insect appears abund- 

 antly every alternate year. This may indicate 

 its duration in the larva state. 



Balaninus Nucum. A most curious insect, 

 with a rostrum, extremely slender and longer 

 than its body. It inhabits hazel bushes, and 



