THE glow-worm's " NUPTIAL LAMP." 87 



" It was'," he remarks, " uneffectual only at the ap- 

 proach of morn, in like manner as the light of a 

 candle would be at mid-day." * 



If you have ever seen the glow-worm, you may be 

 unable to account for the soft wingless creature you 

 behold being classed with the Coleoptera ; but it is 

 in the male you are to look for the expansive wings, 

 and the horny wing-covers or elytra, which form 

 some of the characteristics of the order. The female 

 crawls upon the ground, — the male wings his flight 





WM 



J/ff/t' and femule Gloic-worm. 



through the air. The Ught of the former is beautiful 

 and brilliant ; that of the latter, comparatively in- 

 conspicuous, — a fact of which Shakspeare does not 

 appear to have been cognizant. 



It has been poetically supposed, that the light may 

 be regarded as a " nuptial lamp," hung out to guide 

 the male glow-worm to the society of the female ; 



* Dlustratious, p. 192. 



