COLEOPTEIU — BEETLES. 243 



late version of a national myth as old as that of 

 Cupid and Psyche, which, as I have stated in 

 another place, was founded upon the transformations 

 of the Butterfly ;* while that of Hero and Leander 

 in its original form, was very probably founded, in 

 a precisely similar manner, upon the peculiarities 

 exhibited by the singular organization of the Glow- 

 worm as viewed by the same imaginative Hellenic 

 race, who, no doubt, at a very early period became 

 acquainted with the unusual phenomena presented 

 by this curious insect. 



The fable concerning the nocturnal light of the 

 female, as being a beacon intended to guide the 

 course of her mate in his aerial flight, might soon 

 arise among any rustic population, who are invariably 

 close observers of Nature, and who as invariably 

 transform the phenomena they thus become ac- 

 quainted with into signs and tokens which are 

 soon interwoven with national superstitions and 

 fables. 



The next phase of all popular fables is their 

 embellishment, by the language and fancies of the 

 poet, and in this form Ave shall find so striking an 

 analogy between the poem of Hero and Leander, 

 and the rustic fable of the Glow-worm's light, that 



* See page 13C. 



