THE GLOW-WORM. 
200 
which the divine Architect has thought fit to surround 
his works ; and perhaps our very aspirations after know- 
ledge increase in us a sense of our ignorance : every 
deep investigator into the works of nature can scarcely 
possess other than an humble mind. 
In all our pursuits we shall find in nature, whereso- 
ever we can penetrate, a formation, a faculty adapted to 
all the wants and comforts of the creature, yet the ob- 
jects of infinite wisdom in the creation of this world 
of matter, animate and inanimate, will probably never 
be made known to mankind ; for though knowledge is 
in a constant progressive state, and the attainments of 
science in latter years have been comparatively pro- 
digious, yet these acquirements are in fact but entan- 
glements : they lead us deeper into surprise and per- 
plexity, and the little perceptions of light which we 
obtain serve to show how hopeless any attempt must be 
to penetrate the secrets of infinity, a conviction, if we 
“ dwell deep in the valley of humility,” that will in no 
manner discourage our pursuits, but rather incite our 
ardor to investigate so exhaustless a store, which will 
lead us, from contemplation, to admiration, to devotion. 
That pretty sparkler of our summer evenings, so 
often made the plowboy’s prize, the only brilliant that 
glitters in the rustic’s hat, the glow-worm (lampyris 
noctiluca), is not found in such numbers with us, as in 
many other places, where these signal tapers glimmer 
upon every grassy bank ; yet, in some seasons, we have 
a reasonable sprinkling of them. Every body probably 
knows, that the male glow-worm is a winged, erratic 
animal, yet may not have seen him. He has ever been 
a scarce creature to me, meeting perhaps with one or 
two in a year; and, when found, always a subject of 
admiration. Most creatures have their eyes so placed 
as to be enabled to see about them; or, as Hook says 
of the house-fly, to be “ circumspect animals ; ” but this 
male glow-worm has a contrivance by which any up- 
ward or side vision is prevented. Viewed when at rest, 
no portion of his eyes is visible, but the head is margined 
with a horny band, or plate, being a character of one of 
the genera of the order coleoptera, under which the 
