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Show }44 PHOSPHORESCENCE. upon them, there are mat~n.a I s a nd mmebaners oefn oigungehs for the production of ten time~ th~~~rch-yards are fatui that ever were ob~erve · e . and hence very favourable for their h app~ar!n~e~n associated probably the reason ~hy t ey . a\s of terror while with spirits, and consideret o~te~erfectly ha;mless, they are in themselves. no on . 11 when seen in but exceedingly beautiful, especia y lonely places and through between trees. In tropieal countries, where the action of the sun . . owerful during the day, and longer sustse~~~~ e luring the night than with us, ~~~d where p tl both growth and decomposition go on cons~~~~e ~apidly' those airy meteors Df th~ night m~c much more common than they are with u~. ¥he are nlore common at sea too. than they are on land~ though there they seldom nse above th~ stu~face ~unless the water is agitated. But when t a IS done in certain states of the weather, namely h a~~er on 'calms when the water has not been muc ms~ ur~ed the~e is a ripple of light at the bows of the 1' d her wake bears some resemblance to. tho ·vtaei.sl seo f' aan comet. E very &.P1 a sh of the oars f.h ngs GLOW• WORM. 145 radiance and a hand skilfully dipped in the water appears to be kindling. -There seems little reason to doubt that all those lights are produced by decom· position, whether of the ultimate destruction of dead animals or of the separation of waste in living ones; and that they are nothing more than some of the highly inflammable gaseous compounds kindled by the friction of motion. That they do exist in living animals is seen in the various species of fireflies, which in some parts of the tropical countries make the evening sky as brilliant as if the whole heavens were hung with countless myriads of little lamps, and all those lamps were dancing in mazes of inces..sant motion. \\-7 e have no luminous flying insect in this country; but the female glow-worm, which is not uncommon under hedges in the warmer places of England, and at the warm season of the year, emits a beautiful bluish white light, which appears much brighter in consequence of the dark and shady places in which it is seen. The male of the glowworm is a winged insect, which flies low ill tbe evenings, but emits no light. GLOW-WORM, MALE AN'D FEMA N l P. |