perfection, especially where they occur on the coast, or are intersected by rivers. At Ilfracombe, the Red Sandstone of the Somersetshire coast is seen lying upon Slate; and the junction is interesting to the Geologist, the Sandstone becoming somewhat slaty, and the Slate having a tendency to a granular fracture. Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, shews the characteristic features of the rock; and the ancient castle, with its dungeons and vaults, is constructed of this material. Ridges of Red Sandstone, containing Mica and fragments, sometimes accompany Primary Rocks, of which a very singular instance occurs upon the banks of Lock Beauly, near Inverness: a high range of Granite is here bordered by a Breccia; and a low ridge of Red Sandstone, of which the valley is also composed, accompanies the series, and seems the ruins of more ancient and lofty formations." When occurring among the Primary Strata, some Geologists have called it Primary Sandstone.

This Rock is very abundant in England, especially in Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire; and independent of its embowelled treasures, its surface is generally favourable to vegetation, and its soil sufficiently luxuriant. Its beds are often of great thickness, as may be seen in the quarries ; it is much used as a building stone; but moulders in consequence of the action of air and moisture upon the Oxide of Iron it contains.

ANNE. AS I hear you mention the places in which these different formations may be seen, I feel an increas. ing desire to travel thither. Most of those in Great Britain are places I have already visited-but then it was without a thought or care about the soil I passed over. The alternate beauty of the Chalk Cliffs and the Sandstone in some parts of the coast, I do indeed well remember; but I should now look at them with infinitely more curiosity.

MRS. L-It is thus that the study of nature multiplies our enjoyments almost without measure; particu

larly if we have an opportunity of visiting different parts of the country. To finish with the Sandstone, I have but to add, that the metals, so valuable and abundant a treasure on the Limestone and Slate districts, here be gin to disappear: but the Sandstone has deposits of not less value, especially Coal and Rock Salt.

MAT.-I fear I shall seem very ignorant, if I confess that I thought Salt was not a natural, but a manufactured substance, obtained by evaporation or extraction, from substances that contain it.

MRS. L.-It is so frequently: but it is likewise found in large quantities in the earth. Salt mines are in some parts very extensive. "The Red Sandstone is generally destitute of organic remains; but towards its lower regions, where it approaches the Limestone of the Transition series, some beds of Micaceous Sandstone Slate occur, containing Anomia and Encrinites similar to those in the Transition Limestones, which will be described hereafter. Vegetables similar to those of the Coal are said in some instances to occur."

MAT. I have no idea what Anomia and Encrinites

are.

MRS. L.-The Anomia, Fig. 4. is a shell of two valves bivalve-and is found in a recent as well as in fossil state. "The Encrinus belongs to a series of animals rendered interesting, not only by their curious forms and extraordinary structure, but also by their being among the earliest inhabitants of this planet. Hence they are so far aliens of this world, that whilst immense tracts of rocks are literally formed of the entombed remains of different species in a mineralised state, only five or six fragments of the remains of one of these numerous species have yet been discovered in a recent state." They do not appear to have had the power of removing; had very much the appearance of a flower, attached to the spot by a root-like base, from which arose a sort of tube or spine, opening at the top, and putting forth arms and

fingers, which had a considerably range for the seizure of their prey. There is a great variety of fossil species. Fig. 5. gives you the appearance of one species at its upper opening-Fig. 6. is another species.

SERIES OF FAMILIAR CONVERSATIONS

ON THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

CONVERSATION XI.

CLASS ARTICULATA-SUB-CLASS INSECTS.

Their means of defence, and luminous properties.

ANNA. Only smell, mama, this beautiful beetle, which settled on my glove, as I was walking in the garden. What a strong scent it has!

MAMA. It is something like otto of roses, and quite perfumes the room. This elegant insect is one of the Capricorns; a tribe which comprehends some of the most beautiful insects that we are acquainted with.

PAPA. Do you know, Anna, that the smell it emits, is its means of defence? It was frightened at being taken in your fingers, and in order to save itself from you, it throws out a fluid which has the powerful odour that you perceive.

ANNA. Is it indeed, papa? I should never have thought of that. I did not know that insects had any other means of defence than their stings.

PAPA. They have many more than you would have any idea of, I dare say. This emitting scents and fluids belongs to numbers in almost every order; indeed I believe insects have, next to vegetables, the greatest variety of odours among them of any part of the creation.

ANNA. I think you told me, Papa, that it is on

account of the smell that you wish me to keep my silk→ worms in the green-house.

PAPA.-It is: they emit an effluvium, which is said to render them unwholesome in a room.

The fluids which many insects eject, are extremely fætid and disagreeable. But I shall get into another lecture on them, I find.

ANNA. O do go on, papa: you know they are very interesting little creatures to me.

PAPA. They are very interesting, I suppose, even in their most repulsive forms. You turned with disgust, I recollect, from the Skunk which we saw at Exeter Change, but if I proceed, I must tell you that many of your little favourites are the true counterparts of that offensive animal. I will not enter, however, into a minute detail on this part of their history: it is sufficient to say that the power of emitting scents and fluids is to numbers, particularly among the beetle and bug tribes, their most effective means of defence.

HENRY. The acid of ants must be a very powerful weapon, if what is said of it be true.

PAPA.-Indeed it is. The effluvium produced by it is so subtile and penetrating, that it is impossible to hold your face near the nest of some of them, especially of the hill ants, when they are much disturbed, without being almost suffocated. The odour thus proceeding from myriads of ants, is powerful enough, it is said, to kill a frog. I believe insect secretions of this kind are generally of a very pungent, and often of a caustic nature: the fluid which this beautiful rose-scented capricorn throws out, will occasion considerable pain if applied to the eyes or lips.

ANNA. You have excited my curiosity, papa, by saying that insects have many more means of defence than I have any idea of, and therefore I hope you will satisfy it; for indeed I cannot think of any thing besides stings, and these scents, that they can have.

PAPA. The sting is rather an offensive, than a de

fensive weapon, and but few, comparatively, are armed with it. It is indeed a formidable implement in those insects that have it, but I believe it is not frequently met with in both sexes of the same species, and by far the greater number have no such organ. You say you can think of no other means of defence: have you forgotten the immense strength and astonishing agility which they generally possess, and which frequently set all attempts to seize them at defiance;-the ingenious habitations in which multitudes lie unobserved and secure ;-and the noises by which many either frighten their enemies away, or disarm them of their fury? But without recurring to these again, several other means, both of a passive and an active kind may be enumerated, by which they defend themselves from their assailants. Many, like the froth insect, are protected by their involuntary secretions, or by the long stiff hairs, or sharp spines with which they are invested: others so nearly resemble the soil, or the twigs and flowers on which they are found, that even the practised eye of an entomologist overlooks them; while others dazzle their enemies by their brilliant colours, or alarm them by their frightful aspect.

ANNA. I suppose, papa, these are what you call passive means of defence.

PAPA. Yes. Some of their active ones would amuse you much: particularly the deceptions they are known to practise.

ANNA. How is it possible, papa, for such little creatures to practise deception?

--

PAPA. They are not wanting in expedients for that purpose, I assure you. A favourite one of many of them is that of counterfeiting death. The common dung-chafer does this: when touched or in fear, it sets out its legs as stiff as if they were made of wire, which is its posture when dead, and in this manner, it avoids the rooks and other birds, which will feed only on living prey. Some of the beetles, weevils, and saw-flies have recourse to the same artifice; and so do spiders, which,