NOTED BEACON BEARERS 151 
cleaner to all outward appearance than a small 
shell drained by the Lampyris. 
“Feeding upon such a questionable diet, one 
would expect the glowworm itself to be a rather 
messy-looking individual. Nothing is farther 
from the truth. For the little creature has on its 
hind quarters a combined wash-rag and clothes- 
brush, which it uses with scrupulous care after 
each contact with its evil-smelling mollusc tubs 
and what not. And so flexible is its body that 
not a part of its anatomy is missed in the scrub¬ 
bing and dusting. A glowworm’s toilet is never 
by any chance * a lick and a promise.’ Indeed, I 
could mention various persons who do not take 
anything like the pains with their toilet that the 
little lantern-bearers do! 
“ Their clothes-brush also performs another 
valued service. It is made up of twelve little 
tubular fingers which are capable either of being 
spread out like a rosette or gathered up in a little 
cluster. When the Lampyris climbs a stalk in 
search of prey, it opens wide its sticky rosette and 
spreads it out to keep itself from slipping and 
falling. The rosette further serves as a sort of 
propeller, for by opening and closing, it aids the 
lantern-bearer to hitch itself along after the man¬ 
ner of a cripple in a wheeled chair. 
“An interesting cousin of the fireflies and glow¬ 
worms is the railway beetle of South America. 
