wing their way for a very extraordinary distance through the air, out of the reach of their pursuing foe. The description given of the Flying-fish, and of their pursuit by the Dorado, or Dolphin, by Captain, Basil Hall, is so interesting, that we are tempted to present it to our readers nearly in his own words. "No familiarity," says that amusing writer, "with the sight, can ever render us indifferent to the graceful flight of these most interesting of all the finny, or, rather, winged tribe. On the contrary, like a bright day, or a smiling countenance, the more we see of them, the more we value their presence. I have, indeed, hardly ever observed a person so dull, that his eye did not glisten as he watched a shoal, or, it may be called, a covey of Flying-fish rise from the sea, and skim along for several hundred yards. There is something in it so peculiar, so totally different from every thing else in other parts of the world, that our wonder goes on increasing every time we see one take its flight; so that we may easily excuse the old Scotch wife, who said to her son, when he was relating what he had seen abroad; You may hae seen rivers o' milk, and mountains o' sugar, but you'll ne'er gar (make) me believe you hae seen a fish that could flee!"

"I have endeavoured to form an estimate as to the length of these flights, and find two hundred yards, or about an eighth of a mile, set down in my notes as about the longest distance, which they perform in somewhat more than half a minute. These flights, however, vary from that length to a mere skip out of the water. Generally speaking, they fly to a considerable distance in a straight line, in the wind's eye, that is exactly towards the point from which the wind blows, and then gradually turn off to leeward. But sometimes they merely

skim the surface, so as to touch only the tops of the waves. A notion prevails afloat, but I know not how just it may be, that they can fly no longer than whilst their wings, or fins, remain wet. That they rise as high as twenty feet above the water is certain, from their being found in parts of a ship, which are full as much as that out of the sea. I remember seeing one about nine inches in length, and weighing not less, I should suppose, than half a pound, skim into the Volage's maindeck port just abreast of the gangway. One of the seamen coming up the quarter-deck ladder at the moment, when the fish, entering the port, struck the astonished mariner on the temple, knocked him off the step, and very nearly threw him down at full length.

was

"The amiable Humboldt goodnaturedly suggests that the flights of these fish may be mere gambols, and not proofs of their being pursued by their enemy, the Dolphin. I wish I could believe so; for it were much more agreeable to suppose, that at the end of the fine sweep which they take, they fall safely on the bosom of the sea."

THE PHYSALIA, OR PORTU

GUESE MAN OF WAR. THE Physalia is one of those singular inhabitants of the deep which delight us by their beautiful colours, and by their phosphorescent light, and astonish the incautious observer by their power of stinging or benumbing the hand when touched. We have already, in describing the phosphorescence of the sea, noticed several curious creatures which have some resemblance to the Physalia.

The above species are common in most of the seas of the hot climates of the world, are well known to the mariners of most nations, and have received many uncommon names,

K 5

in. In this hole, generally representing the mouth of a man, or some monster, the head of which is moulded in the clay of the hive, a bee is constantly stationed, whose office is no sinecure; for the hole is so small, he has to draw back every time a bee wishes to enter or leave the hive. A gentleman told me, that the experiment was made by marking the centinel, when it was observed, that the same bee continued at his post a whole day.

When it is ascertained by the weight that the hive is full, the end-pieces are removed, and the honey withdrawn. The hive we saw opened was only partly filled, which enabled us to see the economy of the interior to more advantage. The honey is not contained in the elegant hexagonal cells of our hives, but in wax bags, not quite so large as an egg; these bags, or bladders, are hung round the sides of the hives, and appear about half-full, the quantity being, probably, just as great as the strength of the wax will bear without tearing. Those nearest the bottom, being better supported, are more filled than the upper ones. In the centre, or the lower part of the hive, we observed an irregularshaped mass of comb furnished with cells, like those of our bees, all containing young ones, in such an advanced state, that when we broke the comb and let them out, they flew merrily away. During this examination of the hive, the comb and the honey were taken out, and the bees disturbed in every way, but they never stung us, though our faces and hands were covered with them. It is said, however, that there is a bee in the country which does not sting; but the kind we saw seem to have neither the power nor the inclination, for they certainly did not hurt us, and our friends said they were always muy manso, (very tame,) and

never stung any one. The honey gave out a rich aromatic perfume, and tasted differently from ours, but possessed an agreeable flavour. -BASIL HALL's Travels in South America.

MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. Ir is well known, that most insects undergo, in the course of their existence, a threefold metamorphosis, transformation, or change. Any persons who have amused themselves with keeping silk-worms, or have watched the common caterpillar, in its changes, will readily understand what is here alluded to.

As the common cabbage-caterpillar is well known to us all, and may be easily observed by all classes, we will take that as an instance for the purpose of illustrating the subject. We have all, I suppose, seen on the leaves of the gardencabbage, the little parcels of eggs, from which the caterpillars come forth. From each of those eggs, in due time, there breaks out a little caterpillar. It is seen wormlike crawling along upon sixteen short legs, greedily devouring leaves with its two jaws, and seeing by the means of twelve eyes, which are so minutely small as scarcely to be discerned without the aid of the microscope. This is the creature's first state of existence.

After a short period, the caterpillar having several times changed his skin, and at length grown to its full size, seeks out some place of concealment, secreting itself in some hole in a wall, or burying itself under the surface of the ground, or sometimes only attaching itself by a silken web, to the under-side of a leaf. There it is changed into what we usually call a chrysalis, which in appearance is an animal shut up in a sort of egg-shaped case, of a bright greenish colour, variegated with spots of a shining black.

without a mouth or eyes, without legs or wings. It takes no nourishment, but lies in a torpid and dormant condition, showing no other symptom of life, than a slight movement when touched. In this deathlike torpor, the insect exists for several months.

After this it at length bursts through its case, and as it were escaping from its confinement, it comes forth a Butterfly. Now you view it furnished with beautiful wings, capable of rapid and extensive flights. Of the sixteen feet of the Caterpillar ten have disappeared, and the remaining six are in most respects altogether unlike those whose place they have taken. Its jaws have vanished away, and in their stead we observe a curled-up trunk, suited only for sipping liquid sweets. The form of its head is entirely changed: two long horns rise on the upper part, and instead of twelve almost invisible eyes, you behold two very large eyes, composed of at least 20,000 parts, (called lenses,) each of which is supposed to answer the purpose of a distinct and perfect eye.

Now looking at these three states of the same creature, we certainly behold in appearance, at least, three distinct animals, as different from each other, or nearly so, as the bird which flies in the air from the serpent and the shell-fish: and yet all one and the same living creature: all united by one and the same principle of life. This alone seems to continue permanent and abiding throughout this threefold change. The bodily substance undergoes the most striking transformations; but the existing and feeling self remains, increasing and unaltered throughall. The same animal crawls in its caterpillar-shape, rests or sleeps in its torpid chrysalis, and afterwards springs forth into the air on the feathered wing of the

It is very remarkable that the ancient Heathens, though they had not the glorious beams of the Gospel to guide their views on this subject, seem to have regarded these insect-changes as foretelling that which they hoped themselves to experience. Hence we are told, that on some of their gravestones which have been dug up in later years, the image of the Butterfly is found sculptured over the name or the inscription which they bear. They placed that image there, as a fit representation of the soul, (in Greek Psyché,) and as an intimation that it would one day come forth again under a new form, and in a new region of existence. And thus it answered to that cheering word, which is read on some of the hatchments set up in our churches, Resurgam, which is "I shall rise again.' It clearly and beautifully expresses what is contained in those words of not unfrequent occurrence in our church-yards, Non omnis moria, or, "I shall not wholly die." Indeed, the allusion is so striking, and so suitable, that the writer from whom these observations are chiefly taken, has not hesitated to express his belief that one of the great purposes of the Creator in forming his Insectkingdom, was to excite this sentiment in the human heart, and thus to raise the thinking mind to look forward to a future revival and resurrection from the tomb.-D.I.E. Chiefly abridged from SHARON TURNER'S Sacred History of the World.

THE DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH. OUR extensive cultivation of the potato, furnishes us annually with several specimens of that fine animal, the Death's-head Moth (acherontia atropos): and in some years I have had as many as eight brought me in the larva, or chrysalis state. Their changes are very uncertain. I have had the larva change to a ehrysalis in July, and produce the moth in October; but generally the chrysalis remains unchanged till the ensuing summer. The larvæ, or caterpillars, strange ungainly beasts," as some of our peasantry call them, excite constant attention when seen, by their extraordinary size and uncommon mien, with horns and tail, being not unusually five inches in length, and as thick as a finger. This creature was formerly considered as one of our rarest insects, and it was doubtful whether it were truly a native; but for the last twenty years, from the profuse cultivation of the potato, it has become not very uncom

mon.

Many insects are now certainly found in England, which former collectors, indefatigable as they were, did not know that we possessed; while others again have been lost to us moderns. Some probably might be introduced with the numerous foreign plants recently imported, or this particular food may have tended to favour the increase of those already existing ; but how such a creature as this could have been brought with any plant, is quite beyond comprehension. We may import continental varieties of potatoes, but the Death's-head Moth we have never observed to have any connexion with the potato itself, or inclination for it. As certain soils will produce plants by exposure to the sun's rays, or by aid of peculiar manners, when no pre-existent root or germ could reasonably be supposed to exist; so will pecu

liar and long intervening seasons give birth to insects from causes not to be divined. We may, however, conclude, that we are indebted to some unusual circumstance for the introduction of this sphynx,and that its favourite food, the pototato-plant, nourished it to the increase of its species.

Superstition has been particularly active in suggesting causes of alarm from the insect world; and, where man should have seen only beauty and wisdom, he has often found terror and dismay. The yellow and brown tailed moths, the deathwatch, our snails, and many others, have all been the subjects of his fears; but the dread excited in England by the appearance, noises, or increase of insects, are petty apprehensions when compared with the horror that the presence of this acherontia occasions to some of the more fanciful and superstitious natives of northern Europe, who are full of the wildest notions. A letter is now before me from a correspondent, in German Poland, where this insect is a common creature, and so abounded in 1824, that my informer collected fifty of them in the potato-fields of his village, where they call them the "Death's-head Phantom," the " Wandering Deathbird," &c. The markings on its back represent to these fertile imaginations the head of a perfect skeleton, with the limb-bones crossed beneath; its cry becomes the voice of anguish-the moaning of a child-the signal of grief; it is regarded not as the creation of a benevolent Being, but the device of evil spirits-spirits, enemies to man-conceived and fabricated in the dark; and the very shining of its eyes is thought to represent the fiery element whence it is supposed to have proceeded. Flying into their apartments in the evening, it at times extinguishes the light, foretelling war, pestilence, hunger,

rather than ridicule, these fears; their consequences being painful anxiety of mind and suffering of body. However, it seems these vain imaginations are flitting away before the light of reason and experience.

THE CHASSEUR ANTS OF TRI

NIDAD.

ONE morning my attention was arrested at Laurel Hill by an unusual number of black birds, whose appearance was foreign to me; they were smaller, but not unlike an English crow; and were perched on a calibash-tree near the kitchen. I asked the house-negress, who at that moment came up from the garden, what could be the cause of the appearance of those black birds? She said, "Misses, dem be a sign of the blessing of God; dey are not de blessing, but only de sign, as we say, of God's blessing. Misses, you'll see afore noon-time, how the ants will come and clear the houses." At this moment I was called to breakfast, and thinking it was some superstitious idea of hers, I paid no further attention to it.

In about two hours after this, I observed an uncommon number of Chasseur-Ants crawling about the floor of the room: my children were annoyed by them, and seated themselves on a table, where their legs did not communicate with the floor. The ants did not crawl upon my person, but I was now surrounded by them. Shortly after this, the walls of the room became covered by them; and next they began to take possession of the tables and chairs. I now thought it necessary to take refuge in an adjoining room, separated only by a few ascending steps from the one we occupied, and this was not accomplished without great care and generalship, for had we trodden

The open rafters of a West India house, at all times afford shelter to a numerous tribe of insects. more particularly the cockroach; but now their destruction was inevitable. The chasseur-ants, as if trained for battle, ascended in regular, thick files, to the rafters, and threw down the cockroaches to their comrades on the floor, who as regularly marched off with the dead bodies of cockroaches, dragging them away by their united efforts with amazing rapidity. Either the cockroaches were stung to death on the rafters, or else the fall killed them. The ants never stopped to devour their prey, but conveyed it all to their storehouses.

The windward windows of this room were of glass, and a battle now ensued between the ants and the jack-spaniards, on the panes of glass. The jack-spaniard may be called the wasp of the west Indies; it is twice as large as a British wasp, and its sting is in proportion more painful. It builds its nests in trees and old houses, and sometimes in the rafters of a room. These jackspaniards were not quite such easy prey, as the cockroaches had been, for they used their wings, which not one cockroach had attempted to do. Two jack-spaniards, hotly pursued on the window, alighted on the dress of one of my children. I entreated her to sit still and remain quiet. In an inconceivably short space of time, a party of ants crawled upon her frock, surrounded, covered the two jack-spaniards, and crawled down again to the floor,