The Glow- Worm and Other Beetles 



foolish. The power to disappear at will 

 through death's trap-door does not justify us 

 in deserting our post; but it opens to us cer- 

 tain vistas which are absolutely unknown to 

 the animal. 



We alone know how life's pageant closes, 

 we alone can foresee our end, we alone pro- 

 fess devotion to the dead. Of these high 

 matters none other has any suspicion. 

 When would-be scientists proclaim aloud, 

 when they declare that a wretched insect 

 knows the trick of simulating death, we will 

 ask them to look more closely and not to 

 confound the hypnosis due to terror with the 

 pretence of a condition unknown to the ani- 

 mal world. 



Ours alone is the clear vision of an end, 

 ours alone the glorious instinct of the be- 

 yond. Here, filling its modest part, speaks 

 the voice of entomology, saying: 



" Have confidence ; never did an instinct 

 fail to keep its promises." 



410 



