cocoa-nut trees is considered a great delicacy in British Guiana; and it is dressed by frying in a pan. The Goliath beetles are roasted and eaten in South America and Western Africa, although I, as an entomologist, have at one time given fifty pounds for a specimen of these insects, and am now willing to give five guineas. In Africa the natives revel in locustssalted, smoked, roasted, boiled, and fried. They are carried into the towns by waggon-loads, like poultry when brought to market. In California the digger Indian regales himself with grasshoppers roasted in a bag with salt, or sometimes made into grasshopper soup; and in Siam the greatest luxury is a dish of ants' eggs curried, rolled in green leaves, and mingled with shreds of fat pork. In Ceylon the natives feast upon bees; in Africa the Bushman eats the caterpillar of the butterfly; and in China the chrysalis of the silkworm is sent to table. In New Caledonia the natives seek for spiders nearly an inch long, which they eat after having roasted them over a fire; and in France, America, Tuscany, and Austria, they feed more or less largely upon boiled snails.

In Samoa, Navigator's Islands, South Pacific Ocean, the natives watch for the sea-worm, which in size may be compared to very fine straw, and which they eat, both dressed and undressed, with extraordinary avidity.

Such are only some few of the many delicacies in which the natives indulge in different parts of the world; most of them, when brought to table, being very slightly improved by the art of the butcher or

the cook. Nearer home, there are many mysteries of diet which science and investigating industry have not yet been able to explain. Although every other part of the dead horses annually killed in our knackers' yards has been satisfactorily accounted for, their hearts and tongue have never yet been traced, as a placard in the food museum at South Kensington informs us.

SUMMARY.-The British Islands cannot produce sufficient food to supply the population, and many articles of food are brought from abroad. The number of articles brought to us might be greatly increased, if we would consent to receive as food more of the things used in foreign countries; but many of these, as will be seen by the list, are altogether unsuitable for us. Blubber, walrus-beef, and the flesh of the seal, are used in the northern countries; the African bushman uses vegetables, fruits, and milk. In Brazil the natives live upon vermin, snakes, and alligators. In Africa, people eat monkeys and baked elephant's paws. In Southern Guinea people eat boa-constrictors.

WORD LESSON.

Kangaroo, one of the animals classed as marsupialia; that is, animals furnished with a pouch for the reception and nourishment of their young. Kangaroos are distinguished by their extraordinary figure and proportions; the hinder extremities are exceedingly developed, and possessed of great strength, while the arms are short and feeble. Their natural position is sitting up on the hind legs, an attitude in which they are supported by the tail, which is extremely muscular and strong, tapering gradually from a thick and fleshy base. Their mode of walking on all-fours is awkward and constrained; but they bound or hop along on their hind limbs with great velocity. Gentle and inoffensive, their food is entirely vegetables. Their defensive weapon consists in the large claw of the hind foot, which is elongated, strong, and armed with a hoof-like nail. With this they can inflict a severe blow. Aloes is the dried juice of a large species of shrub which grows in great quantities in various warm climates. The negroes of the western coast of Africa make ropes and weave nets of the fibrous

parts of these leaves. The Hottentots hollow out the stems of one of the kinds of aloes into quivers for their arrows. An aloe which grows in the kingdom of Mexico is applied by the inhabitants for almost every purpose of life. It serves as hedges for enclosures, its trunk supplies the place of timber for the roofs of houses, and its leaves the place of tiles. Gum-arabic is a well known drug, and is obtained from the acacia tree, which grows in Egypt and other countries. The principal supply of gum-arabic is obtained from Barbary, Turkey, and the Persian coasts.

Millet, a small yellow seed of a grassy plant cultivated in several places in India and Africa. Larva, an insect in its first stage after issuing from the egg, that is, in the caterpillar state. Alligator, an animal of the lizard tribe found in the rivers and lakes of some parts of America. Its flesh is eaten by the natives of the countries where it is found; its eggs also are eaten. Various kinds of toys are made from its teeth. Opossum.-The opossum is a small animal about the size of a cat, and with feet like those of a monkey. The wombat is about the size of a large badger; its fur is smooth, and its colour a reddish brown; its figure is clumsy, shapeless, and fat; its head and neck thick, and its limbs short. It lives in holes and burrows, feeding on herbs and fruits. Its flesh is excellent. Hyena, a well-known species of carnivorous quadrupeds. They generally inhabit caverns and rocky places. Pole-cat, one of the most remarkable species of the weasel tribe. In its habits it greatly resembles other weasels. Sloth, a quadruped of most uncouth appearance, which is formed to live in trees. Mr Waterton says of it: "He moves suspended from the branch, he rests suspended from the branch, and he sleeps suspended from the branch." Boa-constrictor.-Of all the serpents that exist, no others equal in size and power the giant boa, some of them being occasionally met with from 30 to 35 feet in length, and of a strength so prodigious as to destroy deer, oxen, and other large and powerful animals. They swallow their prey whole. Anaconda, a serpent found in Ceylon, belonging to the boa family, of enormous size and strength. Locusts.-There are many species of locusts, insects somewhat resembling a grasshopper in form, but larger. One of the largest locusts known is a beautiful creature, being of a bright red, with black rings round the body and the legs, varied with yellow; the upper wings

marked alternately with dark and pale green. Its length is about four inches, and the expanse of wings, when widely extended, about seven and a half. The Arabs eat them roasted; and sometimes, when corn is scarce, they grind the locusts in hand-mills, or pound them in stone mortars, and bake them as bread sometimes they also stew them with butter.

Grasshopper.-There are various kinds of grasshoppers; one species of which is commonly found in our meadows, and its shrill music may often be heard in the summer.

The author of the following poem, James Russell Lowell, was born in Boston in 1819. He is professor of modern languages in Harvard College. He is a writer of prose works as well as of poetry.

What doth the poor man's son inherit?

Stout muscles and a sinewy heart,

A hardy frame, a hardy spirit;

King of two hands he does his part
In every useful toil and art.
A heritage, it seems to me,
A king might wish to hold in fee.

What doth the poor man's son inherit ?
Wishes o'erjoyed with humble things,
A rank adjudged by toil-worn merit;
Content that from employment springs,
A heart that in his labour sings.
A heritage, it seems to me,
A king might wish to hold in fee.

What doth the poor man's son inherit ?
A patience learned of being poor;
Courage, if sorrow come, to bear it;
A fellow-feeling that is sure

To make the outcast bless his door.
A heritage, it seems to me,
A king might wish to hold in fee.

Oh, rich man's son! there is a toil
That with all others level stands;
Large charity doth never soil,

But only whiten soft white hands;
This is the best crop from thy lands.
A heritage, it seems to me,
Worth being rich to hold in fee.

Oh, poor man's son! scorn not thy state;
There is a worse weariness than thine,

In merely being rich and great;

Toil only gives the soul to shine,
And makes rest fragrant and benign.
A heritage, it seems to me,

Worth being poor to hold in fee.

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