Possible Origin of Ignis Fatuus. 549 



convulsive kind of leap to regain the broken ground ; but this 

 was very imperfect flight. It may happen, however, that at 

 certain seasons, during darkness, they may exercise a volant 

 power, which they do not seem to possess by day : and, from 

 their habit of living constantly in the dark, it is likely they 

 may make their distant transmigrations, if any, in the night. 



Travelling once by the Ipswich coach, I had for a com- 

 panion a farmer, who, from his conversation, appeared to be 

 a man of veracity. He had been, in his youth, a cattle drover 

 and salesman in Smithfleld market, bat at the time of our 

 journey was a Norfolk farmer. 



On passing Dedham Vale, some one in the company men- 

 tioned that it was famous for Will-with-the-wisp seen dancing 

 about on nights. My friend the farmer immediately ex- 

 claimed that all the world were mistaken with respect to this 

 delusive light ; for, said he, " it is nothing but a fly." My 

 curiosity was raised to the highest pitch, as I had seen the 

 " fire-flies" in India; and I naturally thought that something 

 of the same kind might appear occasionally in this country. 

 On further questioning him, he gave the following account : — 

 " I was once," said he, " driving a drove of cattle from 

 Aylesbury to London ; and, on my way from Little Missenden 

 to Amersham, opposite Shardeloes Park, a Will-with-the-wisp 

 appeared hovering over the backs of my cattle when it was 

 just getting dark. Sometimes it was on one side of the drove, 

 and sometimes on the other ; now it would be over the park 

 pales, among the trees and bushes, and again hovering over 

 the cattle. At last, it came so near, that I struck it down with 

 my stick. I picked it up, but its light was extinguished, and 

 it appeared to me exactly like a Moggy-long-legs [? Tipula]. 

 I carried it in my hat to the Crown Inn in Amersham, and 

 gave it to Mr. Fowler, the landlord, who will tell you the 

 same story if you apply to him." 



Now, it so happened, that I knew Mr. Fowler perfectly 

 well as a most respectable man ; and, as I would have occasion 

 to be at Amersham in about a month after my rencontre with 

 the Norfolk farmer, I congratulated myself on the prospect 

 of having gained the knowledge of a new fact in natural 

 history. 



Soon after my return into Buckinghamshire, I visited Mr. 

 Fowler, but was sadly disappointed to find that he could re- 

 member no such circumstance of receiving an insect, or of 

 any person bringing him one. Mr. Fowler added, that, as 

 the circumstance happened several years back, and when he 

 considered the motley group of drovers, waggoners, &c, who 



