THE GLOW-WORM. 85 



be aware that you are looking on one of a family justly 

 named by Linnaeus the tigers of the insect tribes. 

 " Though decorated with brilliant colours, they prey 

 upon the whole insect race ; their formidable jaws, 

 which cross each other, are armed with fearful fangs, 

 showing to what use they are applicable ; and the 

 extreme velocity with which they can either run or 

 fly, renders hopeless any attempt to elude their pur- 

 suit. Their larvae are also equally tremendous with 

 the imago."* I have in my cabinet specimens of the 

 insect from the county Wicklow, and from the Tro- 

 sachs, at Loch Katrine ; but it has not yet been ob- 

 served in the neighbourhood of this town. I hope 

 you will be able to detect its presence in your locaUty. 

 But perhaps, like Miranda, " I prattle something 

 too wildly;" so I shall now return once more to 

 Shakspeare. Although the word beetle occurs only 

 in the passages L have quoted, he has elsewhere 

 noticed, under a different name, an individual which 

 belongs to the same order. I allude to the glow-worm 

 (Lampyris noctiluca), an insect rich in poetic associ- 

 ations, andweU deserving of the epithet "earth-born 

 star," bestowed upon it by Wordsworth. It is hap- 

 pily introduced by Titania, where she enumerates to 



"Pease-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-seed!" 

 the fairy-hke services which they were to render to 



* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 268. 



