Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v16.djvu/27

1857] whitish on sides and beneath. You could see a faint dorsal line. They were so transparent that you could see the internal motions when looking down on them.

I kept them in a sod, supplying a fresh one each day. They were invariably found underneath it by day, next the floor, still and curled up in a ring, with the head within or covered by the tail. Were apt to be restless on being exposed to the light. One that got away in the yard was found again ten feet off and down cellar.

What kind are these?

In the account of the Glow-worm in Rees's Cyclopædia it is said, "The head is small, flat, hard, and black, and sharp towards the mouth; it has short antennæ, and six moderately long legs; the body is flat and Is composed of twelve rings, whereas the body of the male consists only of five; it is of a dusky color, with a streak of white down the back."

Knapp, in "Journal of a Naturalist," speaks of "the luminous caudal spot" of the Lampyris noctiluca.

Speaking with Dr. Reynolds about the phosphorescence which I saw in Maine, etc., etc., he said that he had seen the will-o'-the-wisp, a small blue flame, like burning alcohol, a few inches in diameter, over a bog, which moved when the bog was shaken.

Aug. 9. Sunday. I see the blackbirds flying in flocks (which did not when I went away July 20th) and hear the shrilling of my alder locust.