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CLEANING DIATOMS.-I shall be very greatly obliged if you will favour me with a word of instruction as to the cleansing of diatoms. In common with several friends beginning the study, I have been attempting the preparation of diatoms, both fossil and otherwise. We are all in the same difficulty, and it still remains, after using all the processes described in Mr. Davis's book of instructions. After boilings in sulphuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, and following every direction given, our diatoms are still mixed with a kind of flocculent matter of which we cannot get rid. Water washings and separations of every kind we can devise are all of no avail.-W. Winsford.

DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH.-I have several times had the larvæ of the Death's-Head Moth brought to me. Last year, as I had previously done, I put a larva of the above in the garden, under a glass cover, with some potato-leaves. In two or three days it buried itself. After waiting about a fortnight, I took the pupa out of the ground; and as I held it in my hand, between my forefinger and thumb, it made the same shrill, squeaking noise as I have heard the perfect insect make. The sound it made was similar, but much fainter.-W. F. Foottit, Newark, Notts.

DEATH'S-HEAD LARVE.-I expected to see in your last month's issue of SCIENCE-GOSSIP an answer from some of our leading entomologists to the remarks of your correspondent as to the power which the pupa of A. atropos have to produce noise. The only authority which he mentions for this fact is Newman, but it has been recorded by many others, amongst which are De Geer, Fuessly, Reaumur, Kirby, Spence, &c., some of whom your correspondent will do well to consult before expressing his doubts on the subject. Having myself heard this noise, I trust a short account of my own observations may not be uninteresting to your readers. Last season I had a large number of the above species dug up, amongst which was a very large and fine specimen, which, however, was unfortunately injured, having a small crack in the cephalotheca or head-case, although so small that but little matter exuded from it. Thinking that I might save it, I tied some lint carefully over the crack, and in a day or two the injured part was quite healed. The other pupae were removed to the breeding-cage, and being buried I had of course no chance of hearing whether they made a noise or not, but the one that had been injured I kept in a little damp moss, for the purpose of seeing if it would recover. In this position it was kept for about two months, during which time I repeatedly heard the noise which your correspondent doubted. On being touched it would emit a noise resembling the chirrup of a grasshopper. After remaining in this state for the time before mentioned, it gave up the ghost, much to my disappointment. The means by which this noise is made is simply by the pupa elongating and contracting their cases, the noise being produced by the sudden snap of the rings resuming their original position after the contraction.-A. Mercer.

THE DEATH'S HEAD MOTH (Acherontia atropos); -I have during my entomological experience had dozens of larvæ-of all sizes-of this interesting and peculiar species. I quite agree with Mr. Newman and other authors that in three stages of its metamorphosis it has the power of producing a noise.

The larva turns its head from side to side with great quickness, as if by a spring, when disturbed, and during this contortion I have frequently heard a sort of snapping noise; however I have observed that some larvæ never make the noise, and others only occasionally, though all have the twisting motion of the head; so the sound must be a voluntary peculiarity of the larva. I have once or twice heard the pupa squeak, but in each case a moth was produced from the squeaking pupa in a few hours after. Before the moth emerges, the pupa will often appear upon the surface of the ground, caused I suppose by the movements of the enclosed imago.G. B. C., Ringwood.

PUPA OF DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH PRODUCING SOUND. I see in your pages a discussion as to the ability of the pupa of Acherontia atropos (Death'sHead Moth) to produce sound. One season I had a very large quantity of these pupae; they were laid on the surface of soil in a box, and covered with damp moss; they were kept in the corner of a warm room to facilitate the exit of the imago. Many a time did the pupa "squeak," although more faintly than does the perfect insect, and it was noticeable that this usually occurred shortly prior to the appearance of a moth. On first hearing these sounds we concluded that an imago had emerged; not, however, finding any on the sides of the box, we sought among the moss, but without success. After a few such occurrences, we became aware that the sound preceded an exit of a perfect insect. It was a usual remark, when the sound was heard by those in the room, that "another moth will soon be out." Of course no one now doubts the ability of the imago to produce sound; we could at any time elicit the squeak" by giving the moth a poke, or by otherwise annoying it.-George Gascoyne, Newark.

DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH.-Some correspondents in your last number expressed a doubt as to whether the larva and pupa make any noise. I cannot answer for the latter, but I have frequently heard a sound from the caterpillar. It was generally short and abrupt, like the tick of a watch, but sometimes more prolonged. I could always induce the creature to make the noise by touching it rather smartly with my finger about the middle. It nearly always turned its head round at the moment the sound escaped. The noise made by the imago is much longer and shriller, and might really sometimes be called a "shriek."-Henry Ullyett, Folkestone.

PRESERVING OBJECTS.-Can any of your readers give me a recipe for preserving insects? I want to keep them from summer until winter in some way that will keep them moist (and not injure them), so microscope as if fresh killed. I have tried spirit, that they may be dissected and mounted for the spirit and water, and also turpentine, but without much success. The spirit seems to do best, but it injures some insects very much. If the object is dried, I cannot succeed in softening it, so as to make it like a fresh-killed one. I should not trouble you, but I cannot get this information, and I am sure many of your readers must have felt the want of some ready way of disposing of newly-caught insects when time will not allow of their being dissected at once.— C. L. J.

PRESERVING SPIDERS.-Can you or any of your correspondents tell me the best way of preserving spiders, so as to keep them from shrivelling up, and retain their markings?-B. W. S.

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AS DEAD AS A HERRING.-The following extract from "Anderson on the State of the Hebrides," is quoted in "Selections from the Portfolio of the late John Brady, Esq." (London, Whitaker, 1826). The herring is a delicate fish, which is killed by a very small degree of violence. Whenever it is taken out of the water, even though it seems to have received no hurt, it gives a squeak, and immediately expires; and though it be thrown back instantly into the water, it never recovers. Hence arises the proverb 'as dead as a herring." "”—R. A.

COLOURED LABELS.-I am glad of an opportunity to endorse the remarks made by "B. W. S.," p. 239, respecting the desirability of attaching coloured labels to specimens in Museums, the colours being intended to designate different portions of the earth's surface. The plan is, I believe, in general use in France, if not everywhere on the Continent, and I have before now been struck by its great utility. Each of the main divisions of the globe is marked by a special colour; say, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, and so on. The principal countries are made prominent by bars or squares, or some analogous markings of a different colour; for example, a red bar on a black ground might designate Egypt. Tables of the colours, and of the lands which they symbolise, are suspended in conspicuous parts of the room. It is astonishing how much the sight aids the memory in fixing the locality of any given object; for of course the eye, and through it the brain, is much more quickly and deeply impressed by a piece of bold colouring, than by a single name printed or written in one corner of a card. It frequently happens that students, either for the sake of comparison, or some similar purpose, wish to investigate the Fauna of a single country or district only. To such the plan is invaluable, as the eye catches almost at a glance the reds or blues, or whatever it is in search of, passing by without an effort the colours in which it is not interested. I think that curators of museums would do well to turn their attention to this simple, but very efficacious, aid to knowledge. -W. W. S.

THE HARVEST MOON.-The following considerations may help your querist C. T. Richardson to comprehend the phenomenon of the harvest moon. The moon rises later and later every night, as is perfectly well known, on account of her own proper eastward motion among the stars. It is also familiar to most people that in our latitudes objects on the same hour circle rise sooner as their declination is further north. Let us now, for simplicity of explanation, suppose that the moon moves in the plane of the ecliptic. If your correspondent will trace this circle on a globe, he will find that the arc of it comprehended between the vernal and autumnal equinoxes is all to the north of the equator; so that, starting from the vernal equinox, our satellite is acquiring more and more north declination on each succeeding night. The sun, then, being in the autumnal equinox, of course the full moon will be directly opposite to it, or in the vernal equinox. As she travels eastward from this, such motion must evidently retard her rising; but it will be seen that she is also travelling northward, which accelerates it, and it happens that these two effects almost neutralize each other for two or three days, when the moon is about the vernal equinox. She then of course rises for these two or three nights at very nearly the same hour. Now, the moon can only be full in the vernal equinox-as I have said, when

the sun is in the autumnal equinox; and this can obviously only happen in our harvest month, September. Hence the term "harvest moon." Of course this rising of the moon at nearly the same time for two or three consecutive nights occurs at every lunation, but as she is not at such other times nearly full, it attracts no observation. In the foregoing description I have assumed that the full moon occurs at the instant of the equinox, which it very rarely does; and that the moon's path coincides with the ecliptic, while she really moves in a curve inclined some 5° to it; but these suppositions, as will be easily seen, in no way affect the principle on which the phenomenon is explicable.-F. R. A. S.

THE MAELSTRÖM.-In reply to your correspondent's inquiry on the above head, so very various are the accounts given by different travellers of the Maelström (or grinding stream) that it is difficult to arrive at any positive conclusion as to its real magnitude. There is, however, no doubt of the existence of this strange whirlpool, the dangers of which have been perhaps much exaggerated. It is probable that the many traditions of Norway have lent their aid to throw a halo of mystery over its dark waters. The Maelström is situated between two of the South Lofoden Islands, lat. 67° 68′ long. 16°. Lord Dufferin, in his "Letters from High Latitudes," mentions his anxiety to visit this far-famed phenomenon. He appears to have approached the Maelström, but owing to the fearful height and raging of the waves, his little vessel had to stand out to sea to prevent its being swallowed up in the vortex. Bayard Taylor, in his "Northern Travels," referring to the Maelstrom, says that "it formerly made it so terrible, have been broken is the general opinion that some of the rocks, which away, or that some submarine convulsion has taken place which has changed the action of the waters." Weighing the various grains of information which we can gather together, we may conclude that the Maelström is a whirlpool of extraordinary violence (produced by cross tidal currents and sunken rocks), which in an agitated state is most dangerous to small craft venturing. in too close proximity; but the stories of ships not being able to venture nearer than seven miles may be regarded as quite fabulous. -H. Allingham.

CRICKETS.-I have crickets in my house; they must leave it or I must. Can any of your readers tell me how to get rid of them? Two months ago I had not one-now they are killed by the dozen, and still their numbers increase. In the early numbers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP, several of your correspondents told us what they eat, and very interesting was their information, particularly to those who hang them up in cages to sing" (page 84); but they can imagine how much more interesting to me would be the information I ask.-Geo. B.

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FORAMINIFERA FROM SHELLS.-A few days ago, while looking at a Conch shell purchased from a stall in Brighton market at least three years ago, a few grains of a white substance dropped on my hand from a small cavity in the shell, containing about half a teaspoonful of what appeared to be sand, which, on examination under the microscope, proved to be nearly all various forms of Foraminifera. An examination of the foreign shells in the possession of the readers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP will probably furnish them with similar treasures.J. Wheatley, Lewes.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ALL communications relative to advertisements, post-office
orders, and orders for the supply of this Journal should be
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held. We do not undertake to answer any queries not
specially connected with Natural History, in accordance
with our acceptance of that term; nor can we answer
queries which might be solved by the correspondent by an
We are
appeal to any elementary book on the subject.
always prepared to accept queries of a critical nature, and
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the querist, are likely to be interested in them. We
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ADDRESS No. 192, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W.

J. G.-We are of opinion that if tobacco possesses any disinfecting properties at all, they are exceedingly minute. Many believe that camphor and tobacco smoke are either of them disinfectants. It is undoubtedly a popular error in both cases. If the only defence which a smoker can advance in favour of his pipe is its disinfectant power, we fear that logically he must give it up.

W. M. C.-Impossible to tell, from its crushed condition, what the insect is.

W. R. F.-The moss was undoubtedly Funaria hygrometrica, which is very common.

E. C. J.-We have no knowledge of the name.

J. B. L.-The American Moth Trap was fully described and figured in Entomologists' Monthly Magazine, vol. ii., p. 199. C. H. G.-The Domestic Barometer you describe is much We saw it in use in Norfolk more general than you suppose. many months ago.

M. A. We do not know the Coccus on ferns as a species peculiarly attached to those plants, it is very like the species found on the rose, and may have strayed by accident to the ferns from some other infested plant.-I. O. W.

A. M. E.-We are not aware that any are published.

C. A. J.-Two or three species of Serpula have the tufts banded with blue. Animals in aquaria require little or no feeding. Lean raw meat in small fragments is recommended. E. B.-Don't trouble about feeding them, especially if the tank is large, and not overstocked.

J. G. A.-It is a gall, but what insect produces it we cannot inform you; probably a species of Cecidomyia.

H. T.-Consult "Bechstein's Cage Birds," or "Beeton's Home Pets."

M. C. T. S.--The Maidenhair Spleenwort is a troublesome fern under cultivation; at least around London.

C. L.-Common as swallows in summer.

B. L. W.-The subject was so extensively commented upon in all the Natural History journals, a year or two since, that we cannot afford space to repeat it.

T. L. D.-We cannot afford to guess.

B. G.-We had received a copy of the "List of British Insects" from the author when we made the announcement. The publisher's name was erased, but the author afterwards replied to a querist that it was published by Longmans. Beyond this our own knowledge does not extend.

F. C. W.-Nos. 1 and 2, Diatoma elongatum. 3 and 4, Diatoma vulgare, front and side views.

SEA-HORSE (Hippocampus). - We are informed that Mr. King, of Great Portland-street, has some of these singular fish, "all alive," which those who are interested therein should take an early opportunity of seeing.

W. D. R.-The Beetle is Phratora vitellina.-L.
J. G.-We are afraid that the address is mislaid.

J. W. I.-The species of Aregma on Rose, raspberry, and wild strawberry often approximate very closely to each other. Too much reliance must not be placed on the figure of a single spore. Some authors unite the rose and raspberry brands under one species. Yours is Aregma gracile if they are really distinct.

H. G. L. D.-1, Achilloa. 2, Five shillings.

EXCHANGES.

GOOD BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA for good exotic shells.-Send lists to W. Cash, 14, Clarence-street, Halifax.,

FOREIGN LAND SHELLS for good British marine.-E. C. J., Eldon Villa, Redland, Bristol.

SILURIAN CORALS and FOSSILS in exchange for Ammonites or fossils of other formations.-H. M. Gwyther, Whittington, Oswestry.

TODEA PELLUCIDA (seedlings) for any other Todea, except barbara and Africana, or any Hymenophyllum except Tunbridgense.-H. J. Charlton, 2, Richmond-grove, Everton, Liverpool.

BRITISH PLANTS.-Ajuga chamæpitys, Spiranthes antumnalis, Phy. orbiculare, and others, for local species, especially Scotch and Alpine.-W. R. Hayward, Heath Villas, Penge.

MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.-Early numbers for microscopic objects neatly mounted.-M. Webb, bookbinder, Ventnor, Isle of Wight.

PUPE of F. CONSPICUATA for good British Lepidoptera, or pupæ of the same. W. M. Cole, 93, St. Helen-street, Ipswich.

TARANAKI STEEL SAND for other objects.-E. M., 6, Holford-square, Pentonville, W.C.

WRENTHAM DEPOSIT.-Good slides in exchange for other good objects.-W. Freeman, 2, Ravensbourne-hill, Lewishamroad, Greenwich.

MACROGLOSSA STELLATARUM, A. bucephala, or Arge galathea, for Thecla quercus or Leucophasia sinapis.-James Glass, Chipping Norton, Oxon.

CAST SKINS of larvæ of Day fly (mounted) for other mounted objects of interest.-W. Blackburn, 1, Portman-street, Whalley Range, Manchester.

LADA OVUM and KYNCHONELLA TETRAHEDRA from the lias, and spines of CIDARIS from great oolite, for small fossils from other formations.-E. W., 21, West-street, Banbury.

GOOD BRITISH LAND SHELLS for Limnoa glutinosa, Unio margartiferus, &c.-Thos. Ball, Brigg, Lincolnshire. MONSTERA DELICIOSA.-Pollen. Stamped envelopes, addressed to Charles T. Parsons, Portland-road, Edgbaston.

Announcements of Exchange will not be inserted in future unless written in full (with the scientific names distinct). and in the form in which it is desired that they should appear, Only objects of Natural History are eligible, and the paragraphs should not exceed three lines of printed matter.

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COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.-G. M.-W. W. S.-F. T.W. M. C.-T. H. H.-W. R. F.-M. J. P.-W. G. S.-H. D.C. W.-W. R. H.-W. B. (Limerick).-C. A. J.-J. G.—J. W. -H. R.-A. M. E.-H. J. C.-E. T. S.-J. W.-C. W. B.J. T. Y:-R. A.-L. L.-F. K.-E. C. J.-J. C. W.-C. D.J. B. L.-C. D.-M. A. L.-R. T.-T. J. S.-G. G.-J. B.C. J. T.-T. H. M.-J. B. W.-H. M. G.-W. C.-W. C. C.J. W. W.-G. Green.-H. E. W.-C. H. G.-J. R.-G. B.R. B.-E. S.-F. S.-H. W.-W. T. H.-E. T. S.-W. W.L. L.-T. L. D.-S. B. M.-J. H.-T. B.-F. A.-J. C. H.C. A.-H. G.-A. C.-E. B.-E. W.-E. J. L.-B. L. W.W. B.-K.-C. L.-S. M.-T. R.-M. C. T. S.-W. D. R.B. G.-J. B. B.-H. T.-J. G. A.-J. G.-W. F.-B. (no !)K. Teignmouth (not eligible)-J. R.-H. J. B.-F. W. C.W. H.-E. G. M.-C. N.-J. F. O.-W. J. S.-J. W. I.-W. B. -H. G. L. D.-H. G.-C. T. P.

IDES BRUMALIÆ.

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Myriads of insect forms which lately thronged the air have retired from active life. A solitary Dragon-fly flits now and then, ghost-like and grim, through the fitful gleams of pallid sunshine. The Thrush and the Blackbird are mute, and the Skylark trills an intermitting lay. The Hooded Crow and the Coddy-moddy Gull stalk in stately silence over the gossamer-webbed fields. Spring, with its smiles and tears, its toils and hopes; Summer, with its glowing vigour and glorious promises; Autumn, with its anxious cares and rich enjoyments, are all gone, all passed away; and Winter, boisterous in his exultation, rushes over the hills, down into the valleys, and away through the woods, wild with glee at the prospect of a coming time when he shall be monarch of all he surveys. Have we not already seen him on the hill-tops, shaking the folds out of his ermine mantle, and heard him crashing through No. 36.

the dank woods, shaking down the brown nuts, snapping the dead branches, and tossing the red rustling leaves from his path? Have we not felt his cold hand on our shoulder, and, shuddering, said, "Yes, the Winter is here ?" Did we not love the blooming Spring, with its bursting buds, fragrant Violets, and yellow Primroses? Did we not rejoice when we first saw the Spotted Arum, and caught a playful young zephyr tolling the purple clapper

That hangs in its clear green bell?

And did we not laugh outright when the Haw-
thorn donned his mantle of odorous blossom? And
did we not love, too, "the thousand charms be.
longing to the Summer's day"-the sweet birds
carolling the morn, the fresh breeze laden with the
odour of new-mown hay, the glowing noon with its
glittering swarms, the beauteous flowers, the rich
green leaves, "the voices of the forest range, and
the music of the rill"? And when Autumn came,
did we not love it, too, with its broad rich fields
of yellow grain, its rich ripe fruits and gorgeous
foliage? Did we not stay to hear the soothing
hum of "the yellow Bee in the Ivy bloom"? Did
we not revel in its crisp cool air and yellow light,
its glorious days and just less glorious nights?
But now

The warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing,
The bare boughs are sighing, the pale flowers are dying.
And the year

On the earth, her death bier, in a shroud of leaves, dead
Is lying,

slain by the ruthless hand of pitiless Winter, and her garments, once so beautiful, are torn from her corpse, and scattered in tatters, stained by the sanguinary fingers of her destroyer! How can we welcome him, or how can we rejoice at his coming, for does he not drive away joy and gladness from the earth, and bring desolation and death?

Behold, fond man,

See here, thy pictured life; pass some few years
Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength,
And pale concluding Winter comes at last,
Thy sober Autumn fading into age,

Andshuts the scene.

N

And though at all times in the midst of life we are in death, Winter is still the time of death, as death is the winter of our lives; and as in propor tion to our love of Summer must be our sorrow at its departure, so in proportion to our love of life must we look forward to its termination with regret. The fear of death is but the complement to that desire for self-preservation which He who made the beating heart implanted there, and, Whatever crazy sorrow saith,

No life that breathes with human breath
Has ever truly longed for death.

Midst racking pains and overwhelming griefs, death may, and often does, appear the lesser evil, but

'Tis life-whereof our nerves are scant,
Oh life-not death, for which we pant:
More life, and fuller, that we want.

But death will come, as came the Winter, surely, inevitably; and as we

Sce the leaves around us falling,

Dry and withered, to the ground,

the salutary warning is refreshed in our minds, "Work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh in which no man can work."

I

LICHEN-DYES.*

W. C.

DESIRE particularly to avail myself of the present opportunity of directing the attention

of this section of the Association to what I am compelled to regard as the present unsatisfactory state of the chemistry of Lichens-more especially of the Lichen-dyes. I have studied the literature of this subject for nearly twenty years, and my inquiries have led to the conclusion that-

I. The results obtained by analysts are- frequently at least-not stated with due perspicuity.

11. The nomenclature of the various colorific or other principles is most confused.

III. What are apparently the same principles are described under different names by different authors.

IV. Error and confusion have arisen in some measure from the inaccurate determination of the botanical species operated on.

V. There is a want of concentration and classification of the results obtained in Britain and the Continent up to this date, with the desirability of a uniform and simple nomenclature.

VI. There is room for a new series of researches to be undertaken conjointly by competent chemists

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and lichenologists, so that the one may assist or correct (as the case may be) the other.

There is every reason for believing that orchill will not be superseded by the coal-tar or other dyes; and that the Lichen-dyes are of sufficient importance to commerce to merit an exhaustive examination by modern methods of research. I am persuaded the result would be to raise still higher the comparative place or value of the Lichen colouring-matters among accredited commercial dyes, and to develop and utilise some beautiful colours which have been hitherto ignored (such as the brilliant reds produced from parietinic acid by the action of potash).

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It is not irrelevant, I think, here to express the opinion that our two International Exhibitions were most useful in indicating distinctly the past and present-and, to a certain extent also, the future— applications of Lichens to the purposes of the dyer or colorist; and the same is probably true of the similar Expositions at Paris. But I regret I cannot speak in the same terms of commendation of the illustrations of Lichen-products contained in principal public museums. The Museums of Economic Botany at Kew and Edinburgh, the Technological Museum of the Crystal Palace, the Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh, and the Muscum of Irish Industry, Dublin, as well as minor museums in various provincial towns, contain suites of specimens illustrative of the pictorial applications of Lichens. Of these, the best I have seen is that of Kew. But in none of the museums which I have visited have I found the illustrations in question properly cared for or arranged: in none is there what I consider as anything approaching a fair display of the colorific value of Lichens. In the majority of instances the fluid dyes are destroyed from want of due aëration or oxygenation, apparently; many colours are faded from undue exposure to light; many articles are unnamed, while others are wrongly named. In a word, there is a necessity in all cases for rearrangement by a lichenologist possessed of competent chemical knowledge. Moreover, marvellously few are the standard works of reference, whether technological, chemical, or botanical, which contain correct accounts of Lichens, their products and applications. Even the recently issued "Treasury of Botany" perpetuates obsolete terms and exploded errors which only serve to confuse and mislead the student.

THE STUDY OF NATURE.-From the schoolboy to the philosopher, all grades find in it something admirably suited to their minds. It brings us into closer presence of the great mysteries of life; and while quickening our sense of the infinite marvels which surround the simplest object, teaches us many and pregnant lessons which may help us through our daily needs.-Lewes' Seaside Studies.

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