On our return to the spot, according to promise, we found the old woman and every thing gone; but, on examination, discovered the footmarks of two men, from the hills referred to, who appeared to have taken her away. Several months afterwards, I learned, from an individual who visited the station, that the sons, seeing from a distance the waggon halt at the spot where they had so unnaturally left their mother to perish, came to see, supposing the travellers had been viewing the mangled remains of their mother. Finding her alive, and supplied with food, and on her telling the story of the strangers' kindness, they were alarmed, and dreading the vengeance of the great chief, whom they supposed me to be, took her home, and were providing for her with more than usual

care."

then pursued our course; and after a long ride, pass-with the most remorseless rancour. Is there a physician for the coast of Mozambique. Being thus apparently ing a rocky ridge of hills, we came to a stagnant pool, now-a-days who would dispute the value of antimony as under the Portuguese flag, he had not any visits to fear, into which men and oxen rushed precipitately, though a medicine? Who first introduced it into practice? except from the English cruisers, and from them he hoped the water was almost too muddy to go down our Paracelsus. But Paracelsus was not a fellow of the Col- to escape through the superior sailing of his vessel. lege of Physicians of Paris; the Parisian doctors were When he left the Havannah he had no merchandise on throats. therefore, by the rules of their order, bound to oppose the board, but had provided himself with an ample sum of introduction of antimony as a crime. A crime it was ac- money in specie. On his arrival at Mozambique, the cordingly voted; and the French Parliament, at the in-slave-trade had been prohibited by Portugal, and the stigation of the college, passed an act which made it governor, in obedience to orders he had received from penal to prescribe it. To the Jesuits of Peru Protestant his government, fined Vivo 2500 piasters for contravenEngland owes the invaluable bark. How did Protestant tion of the treaty that had been entered into; and having England first receive this gift of the Jesuits? Being a seized and taken away from his ship all that could be popish remedy, they at once rejected it. In 1693, Dr used in the illicit traffic, he commanded Vivo to return Groenvelt discovered the curative power of cantharides to the Havannah, giving him papers expressly for this desin dropsy. What an excellent thing for Dr Groenvelt! tination, and appointed a Portuguese subject, Captain Excellent indeed; for no sooner did his cures begin to Costa Vianna, to take the chief command of the ship. make a noise than he was at once committed to Newgate He at the same time embarked in her seventeen men by warrant of the president of the College of Physicians who had lost their ship, as passengers for the Havannah. Vivo, notwithstanding the new captain placed over him for prescribing cantharides internally. Blush, most sapient college of physicians--your present president, Sir Henry on leaving the coast of Mozambique, retained the full Halford, is a humble imitator of the ruined Groenvelt! command of the vessel, and by his representations inBefore the discovery of vaccination, inoculation for small- duced the crew and passengers to consent to deviate from was found to mitigate greatly that terrible disease. the course to the Havannah, against the will of the PorMr Moffat gives many anecdotes of wild animals, Who first introduced small-pox inoculation? Lady Marytuguese Captain Costa Vianna, who protested, as he has particularly lions, from which he made many narrow Montague, who had seen its success in Turkey. Happy since declared, against the violation of the governor's escapes in the course of his wanderings. The follow- Lady Mary Montague! Her rank, sex, beauty, genius, orders. Steering to Bombestock, he on his arrival there ing is one of his most striking stories of lion ad- all doubtless conspired to bring it into notice. Listen to found three American vessels, from which he procured venture:-" A man belonging to Mr Schmelen's con- Lord Wharncliffe, who has written her life, and learn water-tanks, provisions, planks, fifty muskets, and the gregation, at Bethany, returning homewards from a from his story this terrible truth, that persecution ever other stores necessary for his first projected trade. visit to his friends, took a circuitous course in order to has been, and ever will be, the only reward of the bene- Having obtained these, he sailed to the coast of Pomba. pass a small fountain, or rather pool, where he hoped factors of the human race. Lady Mary,' says his lord- Here, by deceit, he gained possession of a small boat, to kill an antelope to carry home to his family. The ship, protested that in the four or five years immediately called a pangaille, got her crew of six men on board, and sun had risen to some height by the time he reached succeeding her arrival at home, she seldom passed a day secured them in the hold or between decks. When the without repenting of her patriotic undertaking; and she chief of the boat remonstrated against this act of fraud the spot, and seeing no game, he laid his gun down on vowed she never would have attempted it if she had and violence, Vivo justified himself on the ground that a shelving low rock, the back part of which was covered over with a species of dwarf thorn bushes. He foreseen the vexation, the persecution, and even the it was but a retaliation for the money of which the goobloquy, it brought upon her. The clamours raised vernor of Mozambique had robbed him. went to the water, took a hearty drink, and returned against the practice, and of course against her, were be- On the following morning the Pocha fell in with, and to the rock, smoked his pipe, and, being a little tired, yond belief. The faculty all rose in arms to a man, fore- by main force captured, a large pangaille, manned by fell asleep. In a short time, the heat reflected from telling failure and the most disastrous consequences; the eighteen free Arabs, and containing one hundred and the rock awoke him; and, opening his eyes, he saw a clergy descanted from their pulpits on the impiety of thus twenty blacks. Having taken on board these, and all the large lion crouching before him, with its eyes glaring seeking to take events out of the hands of Providence; and provisions and stores the boat contained, he set it adrift in his face, and within little more than a yard of his the common people were taught to hoot at her as an unna- with two old Arabs, of whose fate nothing has been feet. He sat motionless for some minutes, till he had tural mother who had risked the lives of her own chil- heard. The Pocha then returned to Bombestock for the recovered his presence of mind; then eyeing his gun, dren. We now read in grave medical biography, that lieutenant, who had been left at that place to purchase moved his hand slowly towards it; the lion, seeing the discovery was instantly hailed, and the method rice. Thence she went to Nossibé, where Vivo found the him, raised its head, and gave a tremendous roar; he adopted, by the principal members of that profession. French sloop of war Prévoyante, and went on board to Very likely they left this recorded; for whenever an in- visit Captain Jehenne, who received him politely, invited made another and another attempt, but the gun being vention or a project, and the same may be said of persons, him to breakfast, and promised to return the visit the far beyond his reach, he gave it up, as the lion seemed has made its way so well by itself as to establish a cer- next morning. Although no doubt of the Pocha being a well aware of his object, and was enraged whenever tain reputation, most people are sure to find out that slaver could be entertained, Captain Jehenne was rehe attempted to move his hand. His situation now they always patronised it from the beginning, and a strained from searching her, as Portugal did not admit became painful in the extreme; the rock on which he happy gift of forgetfulness enables many to believe their that right. More serious suspicions, however, arose, when, sat became so hot that he could scarcely bear his naked own assertion. But what said Lady Mary of the actual early in the morning, instead of waiting for Captain feet to touch it, and kept moving them, alternately fact and actual time? Why, that the four great physi- Jehenne's return visit, the Pocha was seen making off placing one above the other. The day passed, and cians deputed by government to watch the progress of with all her sails set. In the course of the day the whole the night also, but the lion never moved from the her daughter's inoculation, betrayed not only such incre- shore was in commotion, it having been discovered that spot; the sun rose again, and its intense heat soon dulity as to its success, but such an unwillingness to have she had landed some of her men at another point of the rendered his feet past feeling. At noon the lion rose it succeed, such an evident spirit of rancour and malig- island, and carried off many men and women, after killing and walked to the water, only a few yards distant,nity, that she never cared to leave the child alone with one man who had offered resistance. The Prévoyante found looking behind him as it went, lest the man should them one second, lest it should in some secret way suffer the Pocha again at the island of Mayotte. As the sloop approached, the men at her mast head saw many heavy move; and seeing him stretch out his hand to take his How was the still greater discovery of the immortal bodies, but of what nature could not be distinguished, gun, turned in a rage, and was on the point of spring- Jenner received---vaccination? Like every other dis- thrown from the Pocha into the sea, and then water was ing upon him. The animal went to the water, drank, covery---with ridicule and contempt. By the Royal drawn up and dashed upon the deck as if to clean it. No and returning, lay down again at the edge of the rock. College of Physicians, not only was he persecuted and doubt was entertained that the objects thrown overboard Another night passed: the man, in describing it, said oppressed, but the pedants of that most pedantic of were the poor blacks, or some of them. Captain Jehenne he knew not whether he slept; but if he did, it must bodies declined to give him their license to practise his sent an officer into the vessel, who discovered in confinehave been with his eyes open, for he always saw the profession in London, because, forsooth, he, a man of ment the Arabs who had been captured in the two panlion at his feet. Next day, in the forenoon, the ani- deeds, not words, very properly declined to undergo atgailles, and at the same time ascertained that the vessel mal went again to the water; and, while there, he their hands a schoolboy examination in Greek and Latin. listened to some noise apparently from an opposite But even religion and the Bible were made engines of quarter, and disappeared in the bushes. The man now attack against Jenner. From these Errhman of Frankmade another effort, and seized his gun; but on atfort deduced his chief grounds of accusation against the tempting to rise, he fell, his ankles being without quotations of the prophetical parts of Scripture, and the new practice; and he gravely attempted to prove, from power. With his gun in his hand, he crept towards fathers of the church, that vaccination was the real the water, and drank; but looking at his feet, he antichrist! How can you wonder that medicine should saw, as he expressed it, his toes roasted," and the skin have made so little progress, if those only make fortunes torn off with the grass. There he sat a few moments, by means of it who know nothing more than the jargon expecting the lion's return, when he was resolved to and crudities which pass for medical science with the send the contents of the gun through its head; but, vulgar? The sight which two thousand years ago Soloas it did not appear, tieing his gun to his back, the mon saw, you, gentlemen, with your own eyes have seen, poor man made the best of his way on his hands and 'he returned and saw under the sun, that there was neither knees to the nearest path, hoping some solitary indi-bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor vidual might pass. He could go no farther, when, favour to men of skill." fortunately, a person came up, who took him to a place of safety, whence he obtained help, though he lost his toes, and was a cripple for life."

DICKSON ON THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. DR SAMUEL DICKSON, a London physician, has written a rather strange sort of book" Fallacies of the Faculty," in which, while upholding certain notions of his own on the cause and cure of disease, he gives a few hard hits to the medical world on its frequent rejection of evident truths:

"How was the exposition of the circulation of the blood first received? Harvey, its discoverer, was persecuted through life; his enemies, in derision, styled him the Circulator, a word in its original Latin signifying 'vagabond' or 'quack; and their efforts to destroy him were so far successful, that he lost the greater part of his practice through their united machinations. You all know that when a limb is amputated, the surgeons, to prevent the patient bleeding to death, tie the arteries. Before the time of Francis I., they were in the habit of stanching the blood by applying boiling pitch to the surface of the stump. Ambrose Parè introduced the ligature as a substitute-he first tied the arteries. What was the reward of Ambrose Parè? He was hooted and howled down by the Faculty of Physic, who ridiculed the idea of putting the life of man upon a thread, when boiling pitch had stood the test of centuries! In vain he pleaded the agony of the application-in vain he showed the success of the-ligature. Corporations seldom forgive merit in an adversary; they continued to persecute him

from their interference.'

The doctor denounces most emphatically and justly an odious system pursued in London and perhaps other parts of England, by which the emoluments of the medical practitioner depend in a great measure on the quantity of useless drugs he inflicts on his deluded patient. We add the query---Are the English, generally speaking, not prejudiced in favour of taking drugs-would they think the doctor worthy of any payment at all if he did not give them a certain daily allowance of draughts, pills, and powders?

A SPANISH SLAVER.

[From a newspaper of July last.]

THE maritime tribunal of Brest has been engaged in the
trial of a case of piracy and violation of the existing
treaties between France and Spain against a continua-
tion of the slave trade. The hearing commenced on the
28th ult., and lasted till the 3d inst., inclusive. The
whole of the important and interesting circumstances,
as exposed by the proceedings, are comprised in the fol-
lowing statement:-

A Mexican brig of war, called the Pocha, taken by
Admiral Baudin's fleet in 1838, became, by successive
sales and transfers, the property of a Spaniard named
Vivo, resident at the Havannah. Vivo, who had been
previously engaged in the slave-trade in a subordinate
capacity, had her fitted out as a slave-ship, and engaged
a crew of forty-five men. As this traffic was prohibited
by the laws of Spain, he, by fraudulent representations,
furnished himself with Portuguese papers, and sailed on
the 25th of December 1840, from the Havannah, direct

was without any papers warranting her appearance in that latitude. Upon these facts the Prévoyante took possession of the Pocha, and carried her into the island of Bourbon. Here the vessel was condemned, and her crew sent to France to be tried for piracy.

On their arrival at Brest, a correspondence took place on the subject between the governments of France and Portugal, at the end of which the latter power renounced all claim to the prisoners as its subjects, and left them to be tried before the French tribunal. After reading the indictment and the report of Captain Jehenne, and the other documentary evidence, the prisoner Vivo was interrogated. He admitted all the essential facts, but denied his being guilty of piracy, justifying his seizure of the two pangailles as a mere act of reprisal on the governor of Mozambique, for taking from him the 2500 piasters, which he maintained was a robbery. He denied having been guilty of any outrage on shore, and of this it does not appear that any evidence was produced. He also denied that any blacks were thrown into the sea. Vianna, the nominal captain, was next called upon to account for being engaged in these infamous transactions. He declared that, although put in command of the Pocha by the governor of Mozambique, he never had the least authority in her, which was assumed and maintained throughout by Vivo, under whose orders every transaction took place. He gave his evidence with great reserve, being evidently under strong fears of the consequences which might arise from Vivo and his mate Ripoll, who was Vivo's principal agent, and who is evidently a man of determined resolution as well as great physical powers. Hamis Ben Omar, the owner of the smaller pangaille, who came willingly to France to appear as a witness on the trial, was examined, and gave in the French language, which he spoke well, a clear and distinct account of the treacherous manner in which he, his men, and boat, were gained possession of, and detained by the Pocha. He also acted as interpreter in the examination of Bacari Iman Bacos, the master of the larger boat. This witness repeated the account of the capture of her by Ripoll, and a crew sent out in the smaller pangaille. He stated that he had in his boat one hundred and twenty slaves, which he had purchased for working an estate he possessed at Zanzibar, and affirmed that he and his men were free and independent, and that the governor of Mozambique had no property or interest whatever in the slaves, which belonged to him alone. They both complained bitterly of the treatment they received on board the Pocha, and more particularly at having their beards shaven, which

was a gross violation of their religious feelings as Mahometans. Vivo, however, justified the act as necessary for cleanliness and the preservation of their health. The evidence of the numerous other witnesses tended to establish the truth of all the facts stated. The Commissaire Rapporteur, the public prosecutor in the French Admiralty Courts, in delivering his requisitory, insisted upon judgment against Vivo, Vianna, and Ripoll, as having been guilty of piracy in seizing and detaining the two pangailles, and plundering the merchandise they contained, leaving the rest of the prisoners to the discretion of the court.

Those who are accustomed to enlightened views on Dr Howieson, lecturer on botany in Edinburgh, met this subject, will know that there are different kinds of with the following occurrence in Fifeshire, during one of personal beauty, amongst which that of form and colour- his botanical excursions:-Calling at the cottage of a ing holds a very inferior rank. There is beauty of ex- medical practitioner, a former pupil of his, he found the pression, for instance, of sweetness, of nobility, of intel- Esculapius going to mount his pony to visit his patients. lectual refinement, of feeling, of animation, of meekness, Upon the two friends meeting, the practitioner remarked, of resignation, and many other kinds of beauty, which "Doctor, it is not every day I see you, we must go in and may all be allied to the plainest features, and yet may have a haver." Upon entering the parlour, there was no remain to give pleasure long after the blooming cheek fire. He rung the bell; his housekeeper came in carrying has faded, and silver grey has mingled with the hair. in her white apron a quantity of dried fir-tree tops, and a lighted candle in her hand. She threw the fir-cones The tribunal, after a very long deliberation, pronounced And how far more powerful in their influence upon others are some of those kinds of beauty; for, after all, beauty into the polished grate, broke a coal into pieces, and laid Vivo, Vianna, and Ripoll, guilty of piracy, but with extenuating circumstances as to the two latter. Consequently, depends more upon the movements of the face than upon them over them. She then applied the candle, when the form of the features when at rest; and thus, a coun- almost instantaneously they broke into a beautiful strong Vivo was sentenced to close confinement, with labour, tenance habitually under the influence of amiable feelings flame, from the great quantity of turpentine they confor ten years, and Vianna and Ripoll to the same punish-acquires a beauty of the highest order, from the frequency tained. They soon set fire to the coals, and in a few ment for five years. The rest of the prisoners, composing with which such feelings are the originating cause of the minutes a delightful warm fire was the result. A few blasts the crew of the Pocha, forty-five in number, were acmovements or expressions which stamp their character of the bellows might be an improvement. Next followed quitted. upon it. Who has not waited for the first opening of the the decanters and glasses; and it may perhaps be unnelips of a celebrated belle, to see whether her claims would cessary to add, the two doctors made themselves combe supported by "the mind, the music breathing from fortable in front of the fir-cone fire. The practitioner her face," and who has not occasionally turned away re- obtained this knowledge in the following manner :-He pelled by the utter blank, or worse than blank, which the was attending a poor woman residing close to the forest. simple movement of the mouth, in speaking or smiling, She could not pay him. With the gratitude of the rural has revealed? The language of poetry describes the loud population, next morning her two daughters came to his laugh as indicative of the vulgar mind; and certainly house, each carrying a sack filled with dried fir cones colthere are expressions, conveyed even through the medium lected in the wood. They told him they were for kindling of a smile, which need not Lavater to inform us that rea fire, and if he had no coals they would make an excelfinement of feeling or elevation of soul has little to do lent durable fire of themselves. The cones of the Pinus with the fair countenance on which they are impressed. silvestris (Scotch fir) contain a great quantity of solid On the other hand, there are plain women sometimes woody matter in addition to the resinous, and are excelmet with in society, every movement of whose features lently adapted for fuel. They are used over Italy, Switis instinct with intelligence; who from the genuine heart-zerland, &c. This circumstance is little known, and the warm smiles which play about the mouth, the sweetly intention of these remarks is to recommend their use to modulated voice, and the lightening up of an eye that the poor population of Scotland.-Newspaper paragraph. looks as if it could "comprehend the universe," become perfectly beautiful to those who live with them and love them. Before such pretensions to beauty as these, how soon do the pink and white of a merely pretty face vanish into nothing!-Mrs Ellis's Daughters of England.

THE INDIAN CHIEF.

ONE of the first settlers in Western New York was Judge W., who established himself at Whitestown, about four miles from Utica. He brought his family with him, among whom was a widowed daughter with an only child-a fine boy about four years old. You will recollect that the tract around was an unbroken forest, and this was the domain of the savage tribes.

Judge W. saw the necessity of keeping on good terms with the Indians, for as he was nearly alone, he was completely at their mercy. Accordingly, he took every opportunity to secure their good will in return. Several of the chiefs came to see him, and all appeared pacific. But there was one thing that troubled him; an aged chief of the Seneca tribe, and one of great influence, who resided at a distance of about six miles, had not been to see him, nor could he by any means ascertain the feelings and views of the sachem in respect to his settle ment in that region. At last he sent him a message, and the answer was, that the chief would visit him on the

morrow.

True to his appointment, the sachem came. Judge W. received him with marks of respect, and introduced his wife, his daughter, and the little boy. The interview that followed was deeply interesting. Upon its result the judge considered that his security might depend, and he was therefore exceedingly anxious to make a favourable impression upon the chief. He expressed to him his desire to settle in the country; to live on terms of amity and good fellowship with the Indians; and to be useful to them by introducing among them the arts of civilisation. The chief heard him out, and then said, "Brother, you ask much, and promise much. What pledge can you give of your faith?"

"The honour of a man that never knew deception," was the reply.

"The white man's word may be good to the white man, yet it is but wind when spoken to the Indian," said the sachem.

"I have put my life into your hands," said the judge; "is this an evidence of my good intentions? I have placed confidence in the Indian, and I will not believe that he will abuse or betray the trust that is thus reposed."

"So much is well," replied the chief; "the Indian will repay confidence with confidence; if you will trust him, he will trust you. But I must have a pledge. Let this boy go with me to my wigwam; I will bring him back in three days with my answer."

If an arrow had pierced the bosom of the mother, she could not have felt deeper the pang that went to her heart, as the Indian made this proposal. She sprang from her seat, and rushing to the boy who stood at the side of the sachem, looking into his face with pleased wonder and admiration, she encircled him in her arms, and was about to fly from the room. A gloomy and ominous frown came over the sachem's brow, but he did not speak.

But not so with Judge W. He knew that the success of the enterprise, the very lives of his family, depended "Stay, stay, my upon the decision of the moment. daughter," said he. "Bring back the boy, I beseech you. I would not risk a hair of his head. He is not more dear to you than to me. But, my child, he must go with the chief. God will watch over him. He will be as safe in the sachem's wigwam as beneath our roof and in your arms."

SUNSET.

[BY SWYNFEN JERVIS.]

Now to his palace in the west
The king of day returns to rest.
Not as when first he rose to sight,
Soaring through the fields of space,
Gladdening all things with the light
Of his ever-beaming face;

Nor when, too bright for mortal eyes,
His noontide splendour filled the exulting skies:
Around his car of glittering sheen
No more the dancing Hours are seen;
Of all that faithless, fleeting train,
True to their sovereign none remain:
High seated on his fiery throne,
He rides triumphant, but alone.
Meantime the gorgeous car of state

Through heaven's wide champaign slopes its downward flight;
Now sinks behind yon towering steep,
Now skirts the margin of the deep,
And now before the western gate
Stands, one broad blaze of living light.
Touched by some all-powerful hand,
Slowly the golden gates expand;
While echoing from the inmost hall,
Where duly ranged in order stand,
Rank above rank, the minstrel band,
A thousand pealing voices raise
The song of welcome, joy, and praise,
To Him whose greatness fears no fall,
Who by his own exhaustless might
Upholds the planets in their flight,
Yet looks with equal eye on all,
Scattering with impartial hand
Blessings o'er many a smiling land.
Nor ceased the harmonious strain, until
Sleep closed the monarch's eyes, and all was still.
While round his royal couch of state
The courtier stars in silence wait,
Meek Twilight, in her robe of grey,
To the lone mountain bent her way
But musing onwards kept her eye
Still fixed upon the western sky,

And as she viewed the changing scene,
Oft on her slender staff would lean,

With many a lengthened pause and lingering step between.
On lake, and forest, hamlet, hut, and tower,
Evening descends, like dew upon the flower.
Last rose majestic Night, and over all
Flung the dim foldings of her shadowy pall.

FLIGHT OF THREE HUNDRED CARRIER PIGEONS.

I shall not attempt to describe the agony of the mother-From the Spectator newspaper. during the three ensuing days. She was agitated by contending hopes and fears. In the night she awoke from sleep, seeming to hear the screams of her child calling upon his mother for help. But the time wore away, and the third day came. How slowly did the hours pass! The morning waned away, and the afternoon was now far advanced; yet the sachem came not. There was a gloom over the whole household. The mother was pale and silent, as if despair were setting cloudy round her heart. Judge W. walked to and fro, going every few minutes to the door, looking through the opening in the

forest towards the sachem's abode.

At last, as the rays of the setting sun were thrown upon the tops of the forest around, the eagle feathers of the chieftain were seen dancing above the bushes in the distance. He advanced rapidly, and the little boy was at his side. He was gaily attired as a young chief, his feet being dressed in mocassins; a fine beaver skin was over his shoulders, and eagle feathers were stuck in his hair. He was in excellent spirits, and so proud was he of his honours, that he seemed two inches taller than before. He was soon in his mother's arms, and that brief minute she seemed to pass from death to life. It was a happy meeting-too happy for me to describe.

The white man has conquered!" said the sachem; "hereafter let us be friends. You have trusted the Indian; he will repay you with confidence and friendship." He was as good as his word; and Judge W. lived there many years, laying the foundation of a flourishing and prosperous community.-Merry's Museum.

An extraordinary and interesting flight of carrier pigeons, to decide a match, was witnessed in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, on Tuesday the 12th July last. About three hundred pigeons, belonging to merchants and other parties at Antwerp, were forwarded a few days previously to Mr Muntz, brother of one of the members for the borough, with a request that he would see them fairly started at six o'clock on the above morning. This request was accordingly complied with, the whole of the pigeons having been started on their journey almost simultaneously, from Mr Muntz's residence at Handsworth; and after making some gyrations in the air, they took an easterly direction, and favoured by a fresh breeze, they were out of sight in a few minutes. Mr Muntz has since received intelligence of the safe arrival of the whole flock, the first pigeon having reached Antwerp at half-past nine o'clock the same morning, followed in rapid succession by the others, in fives and tens, the last pigeon reaching its destination at half-past ten. Estimating the distance from Birmingham to Antwerp (measuring in a straight line) at 300 miles, and allowing for the difference in time between the two points, the first bird would appear to have travelled at the surprising velocity of ninety miles per hour. It is not the least singular fact connected with the match, that amongst so large a number of pigeons, not one should have wandered from its homeward course.Newspaper paragraph.

PEOPLE'S EDITIONS.

ANXIOUS to promote a taste for an improving kind of reading among the less opulent classes of the community, Messrs. Chambers have for several years been engaged in publishing, from time to time, a series of reprints of approved works in all departments of literature; and in such a form (royal octavo) as to combine extreme cheapness with good appearance, readableness, and durability. The books have been, and continue to be, selected with a regard to the amusement, instruction, and moral improvement of the people. The series also includes Original Works of an entertaining and instructive character, and Translations of some of the most approved productions of foreign writers. Such is the extraordinary cheapness of these People's Editions, that in general, what was originally published at a guinea is now issued for a shilling, and so on in proportion; in some instances, books once published at two guineas and a half are now issued at sixteenpence. The following is a list of the works till the present time:

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE," "CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c.

you, and no necessity for expenditure or show of any kind; who might go from Monday morning till Saturday night in home-spun, and never give anything beyond home-brewed and gooseberry wine, with a chance bottle of port to your visiters-while I, Heaven help me! was obliged to dash in a well-appointed equipage, entertain, and appear to be doing a great deal in my profession, when a guinea would pine in solitude for a week together in my pocket."

four distributed amongst kind-hearted hard-working
people, who are trying to inure the young soft hands,
accustomed to silken idleness, to the toils of homely in-
dustry. I ask you, John Adams, how the husband of
that woman, the father of those children, can meet his
God, when it is required of him to give an account of his
stewardship?"
"It is very true-very shocking indeed," observed
Dr Adams. I certainly will do something to secure
my wife and children from the possibility of anything
like that, although, whatever were to happen to me, I am
sure Lucy's family would prevent"-
Charles broke in upon the sentence his brother found
it difficult to complete-" And can you expect distant or
even near relatives to perform what you, whose duty it is,
neglect? Or would you leave those dear ones to the bit-
terness of dependence, when, by the sacrifice or curtail-
ment of those luxurious habits which, if not closely
watched, increase in number, and at last become neces-
dence? We all hope for the leisure of a death-bed-
awful enough, come as it may-awful, even when beyond
its gloom we see the risen Sun of Righteousness in all his
glory-awful, though our faith be strong in Him who is
our strength; but if the consciousness of having ne-
glected those duties which we were sent on earth to per-
form be with us then, dark, indeed, will be the Valley of
the Shadow of Death. I do not want, however, to read a
homily, my dear brother, but to impress a truth; and I
do hope that you will prevent the possibility of these
dear children feeling what they must feel, enduring what
they must endure, if you passed into another world with-
out performing your duty towards them, and through
them to society, in this.”

"I do not want to talk with you of the past, John," said Charles; "our ideas are more likely to agree now than they were ten or twelve years ago; I will speak of the future and present. You are now out of debt, in the very prime of life, and in the receipt of a splendid income; but do not, let me intreat you, spend it as it comes; lay by something for those children; pro-saries, you could leave them in comfort and indepen-mind and person; hers was no glaring display of figure or vide for them either by insurance, or some of the many means that are open to us all. Do not, my dear brother, be betrayed by health, or the temptation for display, to live up to an income the nature of which is so essentially precarious."

"Really," murmured Mrs Adams, "you put one into very low spirits."

tive duty, is it not?"

;

Charles remained silent, waiting his brother's reply. "My dear Charles," he said at last, "there is a great deal of truth in what you say-certainly a great deal but I cannot change my style of living, strange as it may seem. If I did, I should lose my practice. And then I must educate my children; that is an impera-five-and-twenty years ago did dine by day) at dinner, with "Certainly it is; it is a part of the provision I have spoken of, but not the whole-a portion only. If you have the means to do both, it is your duty to do both; and you have the means. Nay, my dear sister, do not seem angry or annoyed with me; it is for the sake of your children I speak; it is to prevent their ever knowing practically what we do know theoreticallythat the world is a hard world; hard and unfeeling to those who need its aid. It is to prevent the possibility of their feeling a recerse."

Mrs Adams met her brother-in-law that day (people an air of offence. She was, of course, lady-like and quiet, but it was evident she was displeased. Everything at table was perfect according to its kind. There was no guest present who was not superior in wealth and position to the doctor himself, and each was quite aware of the fact. Those who climb boldly sometimes take a false step, but at all times make dangerous ones. When Charles looked round upon the splendid plate and stylish servants-when the children were ushered in after dinner, and every tongue was loud in praises of their beautyan involuntary shudder passed through his heart, and he almost accused himself of selfishness, when he was comforted by the remembrance of the provision made for his own little ones, who were as pretty, as well edu

Mrs Adams burst into tears, and walked out of the room. Charles was convinced that she would not up-cated, and as happy in their cheerful country home. hold his opinion.

66

"Certainly," said John, "I intend to provide for my children; but there is no hurry, and”. "There should be no hesitation in the case," interrupted Charles ; every man intends to provide for his children. God forbid that I should imagine any man to be sufficiently wicked to say-I have been the means of bringing this child into existence I have brought it up in the indulgence of all the luxuries with which I indulged myself; and now I intend to withdraw them all from it, and leave it to fight its own way through the world. No man could look on the face of the innocent child nestling in your bosom and say that; but if you do not appropriate a portion of the means you possess to save that child from the hereafter, you act as if you had resolved so to cast it on the wild waters of a turbulent

world."

"But, Charles, I intend to do all that you counsel; no wonder poor Lucy could not bear these words, when I, your own and only brother, find them stern and reproachful; no wonder that such should be the case; of course I intend to provide for my children." "Then DO IT," said Charles. "Why, so I will; but cannot in a moment. I have already said there is no hurry. You must give a little

time."

"The time may come, my dear John, when TIME will give you no time. You have been spending over and above your debt-more than, as the father of four children, you have any right to spend. The duty parents owe their children in this respect has preyed more strongly on my mind than usual, as I have been called on lately to witness its effects-to see its misery. One family at Repton, a family of eight children, has been left entirely without provision, by a man who enjoyed a situation of five hundred a-year in quarterly payments."

"That man is, however, guiltless. What could he save out of five hundred a-year? How could he live on less?" replied the doctor.

The next morning he was on his return to Repton, happy in the assurance his brother had given him before they parted, that he would really lay by a large sum for the regular insurance of his life.

My dear John," said the doctor's wife, "when does
the new carriage come home? I thought we were to
have had it this week. The old chariot looked so dull
to-day, just as you were going out, when Dr Fitzlane's
new chocolate-colour passed; certainly that chocolate-
coloured carriage picked out with blue and those blue
liveries are very, very pretty."

"Well, Lucy, I think them too gay-the liveries I
mean-for an M.D.; quieter colours do best; and as to
the new carriage, I had not absolutely ordered it. I
don't see why I cannot go on with the jobs; and I almost
think I shall do so, and appropriate the money I intended
for my own carriage to another purpose."
"What purpose?"

Why, to effect an insurance on my life. There was a great deal of truth in what Charles said the other day, although he said it coarsely, which is not usual with him; but he felt the subject, and I feel it also; so I think of, as I said, going quietly on with the jobs at all events till next year-and devoting this money to the

insurance."

world, and his patients would have imagined him less skilful; besides, notwithstanding his increased expenditure, he found he had ample means, not to lay by, but to spend on without debt or difficulty. Sometimes his promise to his brother would cross his mind, but it was soon dispelled by what he had led himself to believe was the impossibility of attending to it then. When Mrs Adams returned, she complained that the children were too much for her nerves and strength, and her husband's tenderness induced him to yield his favourite plan of bringing up his girls under his own roof. In process of time two little ones were added to the four, and still his means kept pace with his expenses; in short, for ten years he was a favourite with the class of persons who render favouritism fortune. It is impossible, within the compass of a tale, to trace the minutiae of the brothers' history; the children of both were handsome, intelligent, and, in the world's opinion, well educated. John's eldest daughter was one amongst a thousand for beauty of information. She was gentle, tender, and affectionate; of a disposition sensitive, and attuned to all those rare virtues in her sphere, which form at once the treasures of domestic life and the ornaments of society. She it was who soothed the nervous irritability of her mother's sick chamber and perpetual peevishness, and graced her father's drawing-room by a presence that was attractive to both old and young, from its sweetness and unpretending modesty; her two younger sisters called forth all her tenderness, from the extreme delicacy of their health; but her brothers were even greater objects of solicitudehandsome spirited lads-the eldest waiting for a situation, promised, but not given; the second also waiting for a cadetship; while the youngest was still at Eton. These three young men thought it incumbent on them to evince ture, and accordingly they spent much more than the sons of a professional man ought to spend under any circumstances. Of all waitings, the waiting upon patronage is the most tedious and the most enervating to the waiter. Dr Adams felt it in all its bitterness when his sons' bills came to be paid; but he consoled himself, also, for his dilatoriness with regard to a provision for his daughters-it was impossible to lay by while his children were being educated, but the moment his eldest sons got the appointments they were promised, he would certainly save, or insure, or do something.

their belief in their father's prosperity by their expendi

People who only talk about doing "something," generally end by doing "nothing." Another year passed; Mrs Adams was still an invalid, the younger girls more delicate than ever, the boys waiting, as before, their promised appointments, and more extravagant than ever; and Miss Adams had made a conquest which even her father thought worthy of her.

The gentleman who had become really attached to this beautiful girl was of a high family, who were sufficiently charmed with the object of his affections to give their full sanction, as far as person and position were concerned; but the prudent father of the would-be bridegroom thought it right to take an early opportunity of waiting upon the doctor, stating his son's prospects, and frankly asking what sum Dr Adams proposed settling on his daughter. Great, indeed, was his astonishment at the reply" He should not be able to give his daughter anything immediately, but at his death.” The doctor, for the first time for many years, felt the bitterness of his false position. He hesitated, degraded by the knowledge that he must sink in the opinion of the man of the world by whom he was addressed; he was irritated at his want of available funds being known; and though well aware that the affections of his darling child were bound up in the son of the very gentlemanly but most prudent person who sat before him, he was so high and so irritable in his bearing, that the fathers parted, not in anger, but in anything but good feeling.

Sir Augustus Barry was not slow to set before his son It is difficult to believe how any woman, situated as the disadvantages of a union, where the extravagant Mrs Adams was, could have objected to a plan so evi- habits of Miss Adams had no more stable support than dently for her advantage and the advantage of her family; her father's life; he argued that a want of forethought but she was one of those who never like to think of the in the parents would be likely to produce a want of forepossibility of a reverse of fortune who thrust care off as thought in the children; and knowing well what could be long as they can, and who feel more pleasure in being done with such means as Dr Adams had had at his comlavish as to the present than in saving for the future. mand for years, he was not inclined to put a kind con"I am sure," she answered, in the half-petted half-struction upon so total a want of the very quality which peevish tone that evinces a weak mind---“I am sure if he considered the best a man could possess; after some anything was to happen to you, I would break my heart delay, and much consideration of the matter, he told his at once, and my family, of course, would provide for the son that he really could not consent to his marriage with children. I could not bear the idea of reaping any ad- a penniless bride. And Dr Adams, finding that the old vantage by your death; and really the jobs are so very gentleman, with a total want of that delicacy which inferior to what they used to be---and Dr Leeswor, next monied men do not frequently possess, had spoken of door but one, has purchased such a handsome chariot--- what he termed too truly and too strongly his "heartless" you have at least twice his practice; and Why, want of forethought, and characterised as a selfishness dear John, you never were in such health; there will be the indulgence of a love for display and extravagance, no necessity for this painful insurance. And after you when children were to be placed in the world and porhave set up your own carriage, you can begin and lay by, tioned-insulted the son for the fault of the father, and and in a few years there will be plenty for the children; forbade his daughter to receive him. and I shall not have the galling feeling that any living thing would profit by your death. Dear John, pray do not think of this painful insurance; it may do very well for a man like your brother---a man without refinement; but just fancy the mental torture of such a provision." Much more Mrs Adams talked; and the doctor, who loved display, and had no desire to see Dr Leeswor, his particular rival, or even Dr Fitzlane, better appointed than himself, felt strongly inclined towards the new carriage, and thought it would certainly be pleasanter to after the purchase of his new equipage. save than to insure, and resolved to begin immediately

When persons are very prosperous, a few ten or twenty pounds do not much signify, but the principle of careless expenditure is hard to curb.

"Live upon four, and insure his life for the benefit of those children. Nay," continued Charles, in the vehemence of his feelings, "the man who does not provide means of existence for his helpless children, until they are able to provide for themselves, cannot be called a reasonable person; and the legislature ought to oblige such to contribute to a fund to prevent the spread of the worst sort of pauperism—that which comes upon wellborn children from the carelessness or selfishness of their parents. God in his wisdom, and certainly in his mercy, Various things occurred to put off the doctor's plan of removed the poor broken-hearted widow of the person I laying by. Mrs Adams had an illness, that rendered a realluded to a month after his death; and the infant, whose sidence abroad necessary for a winter or two. The eldest nourishment from its birth had been mingled with bit-boy must go to Eton. As their mamma was not at home, the little girls were sent to school. Bad as Mrs Adams's terness, followed in a few days. I saw myself seven chil- management was, it was better than no management at dren crowd round the coffin that was provided by cha- all. If the doctor had given up his entertainments, his rity; I saw three taken to the workhouse, and the elder "friends" would have said he was going down in the

Mary Adams endeavoured to bear this as meekly as she had borne the flattery and the tenderness which had been lavished on her since her birth. The bitter, bitter knowledge that she was considered by her lover's family as a girl who, with the chance of being penniless, lived like a princess, was inconceivably galling; and though she had dismissed her lover, and knew that her father had insulted him, still she wondered how he could so soon forget her, and never write even a line of farewell. From her mother she did not expect sympathy; she was too tender and too proud to seek it; and her father, more occupied than ever, was seldom in his own house. Her uncle, who had not been in town for some years, at last arrived, and was not less struck by the extreme grace and beauty of his niece, than by the deep melancholy which saddened her voice and weighed down her spirits. He was evidently anxious to mention something which made him joyous and happy; and when the doctor entered the library with him, he said, " And may not Mary come in also ?" Mary did come in; and her gentle presence subdued her uncle's spirits. "I had meant to tell the intended change in my family only to you, brother John; but it has occurred to me we were all wrong about

What the mental and bodily agony of that one hour was, you can better understand than I can describe. He was fully conscious that he was dying—and he knew all the misery that was to follow.

SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY.

PARASITICAL ANIMALS.

THE class of insects affords us numerous examples
of creatures pre-eminently parasitic. They effect a
lodgment, as has been seen, in and upon a great va-

my niece; they said at home, Do not invite my cousin, she is too fine, too gay to come to a country wedding; she would not like it, but I think, surrounded as she is by luxuries, that the fresh air of Repton, the fresh flowers, fresh fields, and fresh smiles of her cousins would do my niece good, great good, and we shall be quite gay in our own homely way-the gaiety that upsprings from hearts grateful to the Almighty for his goodness. The fact is, that in about three weeks my Mary is to be married to our rector's eldest son! In three weeks. As he is only his father's curate, they could not have afforded to marry for five or six years, if I had not been able to tell down a handsome sum for Mary's fortune; it was a proud thing to be able to make a good child happy by care in time. Care in time,' that's my stronghold! How glad we were to look back and think, that while we educated riety of different animals, and in an equally great ceeding is for the ichneumon to alight on the caterthem properly, we denied ourselves to perform our duty to the children God had given to our care. We have not been as gay as our neighbours, whose means were less than ours; we could not be so, seeing we had to provide for five children; but our pleasure has been to elevate and render those children happy and prosperous. Mary will be so happy, dear child-so happy! Only think, John, she will be six years the sooner happy from our care in time!" This was more than his niece could bear. The good father was so full of his daughter's happiness, and the doctor so overwhelmed with self-reproach-never felt so bitterly as at that moment-that neither perceived the death-like paleness that overspread the less fortunate Mary's face. She got up to leave the room, staggered,

and fell at her father's feet.

sharp column of an iron-scraper. Within one hour, Dr | peculiar form, the body being generally long and very
John Adams had ceased to exist.
narrow, and the abdomen or hinder part united to the
anterior by a narrow peduncle; and to the hinder
extremity is attached a long slender appendage,
often exceeding the length of the body, divisible into
three pieces scarcely thicker than a hair. These con-
stitute the instrument employed by the insects to place
their eggs in the interior of the bodies of other insects,
forming at once an auger to bore a hole and a conduit
to convey the eggs to their destined station. There
is not, perhaps, a caterpillar, especially if at all a com-
mon one, and devouring plants of utility to man and
animals, that has not one or more of these parasites
which make it their prey. The ordinary mode of pro-
pillar, to thrust its auger into its body, and leave an
egg in the hole, repeating the operation in several
different places, care being taken at the same time
that the number of eggs deposited be proportioned to
the capacity of the caterpillar to afford food for the
larvæ to which they are to give birth. The latter eat
their way into the interior of the body, and consume
all the fatty matter; directed, however, by a singular
instinct, they avoid injuring the vital parts, so that
the involuntary foster-mother lives sufficiently long
to enable the parasites to reach maturity. They then
either force a passage out, and undergo their remain-
ing metamorphoses on the ground, or these changes
take place within the shrivelled skin of the dead
caterpillar.

variety of different methods: they do not themselves, however, escape similar inroads; and the great compensatory law, "To eat and to be eaten," is as strictly enforced in their case as it is in most others. The larger beetles are infested with those thread-like worms called gordii; and such as are so afflicted are said, in some parts of England, to be possessed by an imp. They are frequently also overrun with acari or mites; the great dorr, or dung-chafer, is often observed lying on the path in warm weather completely disabled from this cause. The useful and industrious bee not only has her treasured sweets pillaged by other animals, but is herself assailed by a small spiderlike parasite (Braula caca) of a very singular descrip"We have murdered her between us," muttered Dr tion. The body is brown and shining, composed of a Adams, while he raised her up; "murdered her; but I tough leathery substance. The animal is totally blind, struck the first blow. God forgive me! God forgive me!" no appearance of eyes having been detected; their That night the brothers spent in deep and earnest con-place is occupied by a subsidiary pair of feelers. The verse. The certainty of his own prosperity, the self-gratu- terminal joint of the foot is not provided with claws, lation that follows a just and careful discharge of duties imas is commonly the case with such creatures, but with posed alike by reason and religion, had not raised Charles above his brother in his own esteem. Pained beyond dea cross row of numerous hooks, much better fitted for scription at the suffering he had so unconsciously inflicted holding on by the fine hair which invests the body of on his niece---horror-struck at the fact, that thousands the bee. The presence of the parasite evidently occaupon thousands had been lavished, yet nothing done for sions great annoyance, for the bee becomes extremely hereafter, the hereafter that must come, he urged upon restless, running about in all directions, as if seeking John the danger of delay, the uncertainty of life. Circum- rest or the means of getting rid of its enemy; and stances increased his influence. Dr Adams had been when the queen is attacked, she intermits her operamade painfully aware that gilding was not gold. The tion of egg-laying, and shows every symptom of unbeauty, position, and talents of his beloved child, although easiness. The vegetating mite (Uropoda vegetans) fully acknowledged, had failed to establish her in life. attaches itself to many kinds of insects in immense "Look, Charles," he said, after imparting all to his numbers, by means of a long and delicate filament brother, absolutely weeping over the state of uncomplain- arising from the extremity of its body; and through ing but deep sorrow to which his child was reduced, "if this slender tube it pumps the juices by which it is I could command the necessary sum, I would to-morrow nourished. Thus it is that many insects which supinsure my life for a sum that would place them beyond port themselves by sucking the blood of other animals the possible reach of necessity of any kind." "Do not wait for that," was the generous reply of are compelled, by a kind of retributary process, to Charles Adams; "I have some unemployed hundreds at contribute a portion of their own nutritive fluid for this moment. Come with me to-morrow; do not delay the sustenance of others. Those who have suffered a day, no, nor an hour; and take my word for it you will from the phlebotomy of gnats and midges, and more have reason to bless your resolve. Only imagine what especially those luckless travellers in foreign lands would be the case if God called you to give an account whose sleep has been so often murdered by the pestiof your stewardship." But he checked himself; he saw lent mosquitos, notwithstanding all their troublesome that more was not necessary; and the brothers separated precautions of fumigation and muslin curtains, will, it for a few hours, both anxious for the morning. It was im- is to be feared, be almost gratified to learn that their possible to say which of the two hurried over breakfast bloodthirsty assailants themselves suffer pain similar to with the greatest rapidity. The carriage was at the door; what they inflict, by being forced to support in turn and Dr Adams left word with his butler that he was gone into the city on urgent business, and would be back Perhaps the most curious observation on the parasitia tiny foe which makes a settlement on their bodies. cal system ever made was that related by the distinguished Swedish naturalist, the Baron de Geer. He observed a heap of small acari upon the body of a kind of wood-beetle (Leptura), several of which are common in this country, and he placed them under a magnifying glass to watch their proceedings. He perceived that the beetle was incapable of walking, and seemed by its contortions to be enduring great pain. The cause of this immediately became apparent. One parasite had fixed its sucker in the insect, and was draining its juices; to this parasite another of the same kind was attached, and doing the same thing to it; while a third drained the second, and so on in succession through a considerable number, the whole firmly fixed together by the funnel-shaped tubes that issue from their tails, and forming a continuous chain of suckers! A portion of the fluid, or white blood of the insect, was no doubt absorbed by each in its passage; and thus the whole series appear to have been satisfied, although only one was drinking from the fountain head.

in two hours.

"I don't think," exclaimed Charles, rubbing his hands gleefully, "I don't think, that if my dear niece were happy, I should ever have been so happy in all my life

as I am at this moment."

"I feel already," replied John, "as if a great weight were removed from my heart; and were it not for the debt which I have contracted to you- Ah, Charles, I little dreamt, when I looked down from the hill over Repton, and thought my store inexhaustible, that I should be obliged to you thus late in life. And yet I protest I hardly know where I could have drawn in; one expense grows so out of another. These boys have been so very extravagant; but I shall soon have the two eldest off; they cannot keep them much longer waiting."

"Work is better than waiting; but let the lads fight their way; they have had, I suppose, a good education; they ought to have had professions. There is something to me awfully lazy in your appointments;' a young man of spirit will appoint himself; but it is the females of a family, brought up as yours have been, who are to be considered. Women's position in society is changed from what it was some years ago; it was expected that they must marry; and so they were left, before their marriage, dependent upon fathers and brothers, as creatures that could do nothing for themselves. Now, poor things, I really don't know why, but girls do not marry off as they used. They become old, and frequently-owing to the expectation of their settling-without the provision necessary for a comfortable old age. This is the parent of those despicable tricks and arts which women resort to to get married, as they have no acknowledged position independent of matrimony. Something ought to be done to prevent this. And when the country steadies a little from the great revolution of past years, I suppose something may be thought of by improved teaching-and systems to enable women to assist themselves, and be recompensed for the assistance they yield others. Now, imagine your dear girls, those younger ones particularly, deprived of you". "Here is the patient upon whom I must call, en route," interrupted the doctor.

The carriage drew up. "I wish," said Charles," you had called here on your return. I wanted the insurance to have been your first business to-day."

"I shall not be five minutes," was the reply. The servant let down the step, and the doctor bounded up towards the open door. In his progress, he trod upon a bit, a mere shred, of orange-peel; it was the mischief of a moment; he slipped, and his temple struck against the

The little creatures hitherto alluded to as parasitical upon insects, are not themselves, properly speaking, insects, for although the acari are pretty closely related to them, they possess attributes indicating an essential distinction. But it does happen with insects properly so called, and it is one of the most remarkable circumstances in their history, that they are very often parasitic on each other. Extensive tribes can only maintain themselves in existence by the destruction of individuals of their own class; and this prevails to such a degree as to render it obvious that it is one of the natural checks which have been placed on their inordinate increase.

The tribe of insects on which this duty is principally, although by no means exclusively, devolved, are the Ichneumons, of which a great number occur in almost every country, and not much short of a thousand species in our own island. The name ichped inhabiting the banks of the Nile, and which, as neumon has been transferred to them from a quadruwell as the famous Ibis, received divine honours from the Egyptians, on account of its supposed utility in destroying the eggs of crocodiles and serpents-a service similar to that performed by these insects in regard to noxious members of their own class. The larger kinds, or ichneumons proper, are easily known by their

It does not often happen that ichneumons commit their progeny to the bodies of mature, or, as they are called, perfect, insects; and this is quite in accordance with their assigned duty of preventing the superabundance of other tribes. Moths and butterflies, in general, are the most destructive insects to vegetation, and these, therefore, require most to be kept in subor dination. Now, the females of these two tribes, particularly of the former, usually deposit their eggs in a very short time after they enter upon their winged state, and in most cases soon afterwards die, as if they had completed the grand purpose for which they had assumed the perfect form, namely, the continuation of the species. The same thing, to a greater or less extent, may be said of most insects. If, therefore, the parasitic flies were to oviposit on perfect insects, the probability, or rather in most instances the certainty, is, that these insects would not be thereby prevented from laying their eggs; and their speedy death, from natural causes, would also of necessity entail that of the parasites. Still, there are instances to the contrary; for example, the troublesome cockroach (Blatta orientalis), or black beetle, as it is often called, so common in bakehouses and similar places, often becomes the victim of a small ichneumonideous fly, of a most extraordinary aspect, from the circumstance of the abdomen, which usually forms the most conspicuous portion of these animals, being reduced to a minute triangular piece, and connected with the body by a long slender stalk, as if it were an accidental appendage rather than an organ of such essential importance.

The eggs of insects, especially those of butterflies and moths, are often made a receptacle for parasites; and the minuteness of the latter may be conceived from the singular fact, that a single egg, scarcely bigger than a pin head, has been known to produce several! The chrysalides of butterflies, moths, and saw-flies, are also chosen nurseries of the ichneumons, their auger enabling them to bore through the hard case, and lodge their eggs in the interior. The length of the ovipositing instrument is shown to be of essential advantage in such cases, for the chrysalides are generally placed in the bottom of crevices, in the interior of plants, under leaves, in the earth, and other places of concealment, which a shorter implement could not reach. It is impossible to mention this without being struck with the singular instinct, or faculty, by which the ichneumon discovers the object of its search, when to our senses there is not the smallest indication of its presence. One of them has been seen to pierce the tubular stalk of an herbaceous plant, just over the spot where a chrysalis was concealed in the interior; and yet a careful examination of the spot afterwards could not enable the observer to detect the slightest difference between that and the adjoining portions of the stem. This fact, and several others of a precisely similar nature, give strength to the supposition that these creatures are endowed with a peculiar sense or faculty, to which we and the higher animals possess nothing analogous, and of which, therefore, we can form no adequate conception. Sometimes a single ichneumon is reared in one chrysalis; as, for example, in that of the magpie moth, so common in gardens; sometimes a whole swarm, as in the chrysalis of the common white cabbage butterfly. Even though the ichneumons, however, as in the latter instance, issue from the chrysalis, they may have been first received by the caterpillar; and, indeed, this is generally the case where there are many. But the caterpillar may have been near its change when the parasites were hatched in it, and they therefore continue in the chrysalis till they come to maturity, their mordications not having been so great as to prevent the transformation to a chrysalis, although the infested insect in no instance survives that stage of its development. An example of a parasite of this nature, so common that it may fall under the observation of every one, is to be found in the Microgaster glomeratus, which occurs in the caterpillar and chrysalis of the