who would not despise the vices and follies of the world and endeavor to attain to the excellence he so beautifully portrays? Viewing those accomplishments as producing such effects, they cannot be considered unimportant, particularly in the formation of the female character; for what is more lovely in woman than delicacy of sentiment and the expression of a heart overflowing with all the kindly affections towards God and man, and that polish of manners which lends a double charm to the intelligence that beams in her face, and twines round the heart by its irresistible sweetness.

THALIA

YOUNG GENTLEMEN'S DEPARTMENT.

A MOTHER'S COUNSELS.

Of all counsellors, a mother is certainly the most affectionate and disinterested; and she has that complete knowledge of the dispositions and circumstances of her children, which eminently qualifies her for giving advice. To none can you speak with such confidence as to her, nor will any one listen with such patient attention to your statements. Others may disclose your difficulties and your scruples to your prejudice; but in the breast of a mother they are lodged as safely as in your own.

Others may be influenced by sinister motives in the counsels which they give, but those of a mother flow from the purest and strongest wishes for your welfare. And her counsels are given with the utmost mildness. The advices of others are sometimes given in that haughty manner which seeks to establish a claim to superior intelligence and sanctity, or with such harsh reflections on our weakness and folly, as are more likely to exasperate than to humble or reclaim; but a mother's counsels are characterized by gentleness and benignity, and though they have been despised in time. past, she is still willing to renew them. The loss of such a monitor must be a grievous calamity.

Some of you are probably now calling to remembrance those mild expostulations by which a mother ohecked the excesses of your passions, and showed you

the folly of those desperate measures to which you were prompted by revenge; the advices which kept you from forming friendships which would have been a snare to you, and the warnings which taught you to detect the treachery that was concealed by smiles, and the plans of ruin which were recommended by the most plausible assurances of gain or enjoyment. And how sad is the thought, that the spirit endowed with so much wisdom and prudence has left you to walk in your own counsels, and that painful anxieties and mistakes are before you.

PICTURES OF LIFE.

In youth we seem to be climbing a hill on whose top eternal sunshine appears to rest. How eagerly we pant to attain its summit, but when we have gained it, how different is the prospect on the other side. We sigh as we contemplate the dreary waste before us, and look back with a wishful eye upon the flowery path we have passed but may never more retrace. It is like a portentous cloud, fraught with thunder, storm, and rain; but religion, like those streaming rays of sunshine, wil' clothe it with light as with a garment, and fringe its shadowy skirts with gold.

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY.

THE DRAGON-FLY

A most destructive enemy of living insects is the tribe of libellula or dragon-fly, a name which they well merit from their voracious habits. The French have chosen to call them "demoiselles," from the slim ele gance and graceful ease of their figure and movements. But, although their brilliant coloring, the beauty of their transparent and wide-spread wings, may give them some claim to this denomination, yet they scarcely would have received it had their murderous instincts been observed. So far from seeking an innocent nurture in the juice of fruits or flowers, they are (says Reaumur) warriors more ferocious than the Amazons. They hover in the air only to pounce upon other insects, which they crush with their formidable fangs; and if they quit the

banks of the rivulet, where they may be seen in numbers during an evening walk, it is only to pursue and seize the butterfly or moth, which seeks the shelter. of the hedge.

The waters are their birth-place; their eggs are protruded into this element at once, in a mass which resembles a cluster of grapes. The larva which comes out of these eggs is six-footed. The only difference between the larva and nymph is, that the latter has the rudiments of wings packed up in small cases on each side of the insect.

In this latter state it is supposed that the creature lives at the bottom of the water for a year. It is equally voracious then as in its perfect state. Its body is covered by bits of leaf, wood, and other foreign matters, so as to afford it a complete disguise, while its visage is concealed by a prominent mask, which hides the tremendous apparatus of serrated teeth, and serves as a pincer to hold the prey while it is devoured.

Its mode of locomotion is equally curious; for though it can move in any direction, it is not by means of feet or any direct apparatus that it moves, but by a curious mechanism, which has been well illustrated by Reaumur and Cuvier. If one of these nymphs be narrowly observed in water, little pieces of wood and other floating matters will be seen to be drawn towards the posterior extremity of the insect, and then repelled; at the same time that portion of its body will be observed alternately to open and shut. If one of them be placed

in water which has been rendered turbid by milk, or coloured with indigo, and then suddenly removed into a more limpid fluid, a jet of the coloured water will be seen to issue from the anal extremity of the libellula, to the extent sometimes of several inches; at the same time the force with which the column is ejected propels the insect in the opposite direction, by virtue of the resistance with which it meets. Hence it appears that it is by means of its respiratory system that the creature walks a strange and anomalous combination of functions in one organ.

If the insect be taken out of the water, held with its head downwards, and a few drops of that fluid poured on its tail, that which was a mere point will immediately open and display a cavity; at the same time the

body of the insect, which was before flat, will be observed to be enlarged and inflated, and if held up to the light, semi-transparent: moreover, something solid will appear to be displaced by the water, and driven towards the head. This solid mass will shortly descend, obscure the transparency of the lower portion of the body of the insect, lessen its diameter, and, when it does so, a jet of water will issue from the vent. It is clear, then, that the abdomen of the libellula is a syringe, the piston of which being drawn up, of course the pressure of the fluid fills up the vacuum, and, when pushed down, expels the water. To ascertain the fact, Reaumur held the insect in his hand, and when he saw its body inflated, cut it immediately with a pair of scissors, and found it unoccupied with solids. He watched when the jet of water was expelled in another, and as soon as the body was darkened and lessened in diameter, he clipped it, and found the cut portion occupied by solids. There is no doubt, then, that the abdomen contains a

moveable piston, and this piston is composed of the air tubes. There are four of these longitudinal trunks,

although two only are represented, they terminate in innumerable smaller ones, and, according to Reaumur perform the functions of respiration, as well as locomotion, in the ways detailed.

After the voracious creature has lain in ambuscade, devouring the larvæ of the gnat and other aquatic insects, till its appointed hour of change, it leaves its natal element for the shore, to undergo its last metamorphosis: for this purpose it usually fastens itself to some friendly plant, and begins the important process which is to convert an aquatic animal into an inhabitant of the air.

Any person who should at this period choose to seize a number of them, and, taking them into his chamber, fix them to a bit of tapestry, would be rewarded for his trouble by witnessing the conversion of an aquatic into an aerial insect.

It may easily be seen by the eyes of the nymph whether it is about to change its form; for, instead of remaining tarnished and opaque, they suddenly become, transparent and brilliant. This change is owing to the visual organ of the perfect insect, which is amazingly lustrous shining through the mask of the nymph. If the eye of the nymph be removed, that of the perfect insect may be seen beneath. As soon as the nymph has