TIMES AND SEASONS. 



a delicate membrane, which glows with a strong 

 ruddy light, visible, however, only when the 

 wing-cases are expanded. During the dark nights 

 it is most interesting to mark these large beetles 

 flying along over the herbage at the edges of the 

 woods and in the pastures : the red glare, like that 

 of a lamp, alternately flashing upon the beholder 

 and concealed, according as the insect turns its 

 body in flight, but the ruddy reflection on the 

 grass beneath being constantly visible, as the ani- 

 mal leisurely pursues its course. Now and then 

 the green light from the upper ''bull's-eye," which 

 seems to be under the insect's control, is displayed, 

 and then again the mingling of the two comple- 

 mentary colours, red and green, in the evolutions 

 of flight, is indescribably beautiful. 



I have gazed upon these changing lights, flitting 

 here and there in the openings of the dense for- 

 est, during the stillness of the night, till I could 

 scarcely divest myself of the persuasion that 

 human intelligence and human will were con- 

 cerned in their production. Thoughts of the once 

 happy Indians, that enjoyed a simple life in these 

 charming glades before Columbus discovered their 

 retreats, would then crowd up; and it required 

 but little imagination to fancy myself surrounded 

 by hundreds of the aborigines, holding their revels 

 under the coolness of the night-season, as of old. 



43 



