of a horny substance, and nearly the size of aniseeds. The female dies soon after she has produced them. This insect feeds principally on grass, and makes a chirping sound, which is imagined to be caused by the fluttering of the wings. If roughly handled, it bites with considerable sharpness.

THE GREAT LANTERN FLY.

THIS is undoubtedly one of the most curious of insects it is of a very considerable size, measuring nearly three inches and a half from the tip of the front to that of the tail, and about five inches and a half from wing's end to wing's end when expanded: the body is of a lengthened oval shape, roundish or subcylindric, and divided into several rings or segments: the length is nearly equal to the length of the rest of the animal, and is oval, inflated, and bent slightly upwards the ground colour is an elegant yellow, with a strong tinge of green in some parts, and marked with numerous bright red brown variegations in the form of stripes and spots: the wings are very large, of a yellow colour, most elegantly varied with brown undulations and spots, and the lower pair are decorated by a very large eye-shaped spot on the middle of each, the iris or border of the spot being red, and the centre half red and half semitransparent white : the head or lantern is pale yellow, with longitudinal red stripes. This beautiful insect is a native of Surinam and many other parts of South America, and during the night diffuses so strong a phosphoric splendour from its head or lantern, that it may be employed for the purpose of a candle or torch; and it is said that three or four of these insects, tied to the top of a stick, are frequently used by travellers for that purpose. A single one gives light enough to enable a person to read.

VOL. II.

R

THE genus to which this belongs is divided into different sections, the whole number of species being above one hundred. The common bed-bug has no wings; but the field bugs have all wings, and inhabit plants as various as their shape and colour. The Surinam Bug, thus named by Madame Merian, who first discovered this frightful insect at Surinam, and figured it from the life in her inimitable collection, from which our figure is taken, is the largest known species of the cimex tribe, measuring three inches and a half from head to tail, and six inches in circumference. It is of a rich brown colour, armed with a single sharp spine on the head, and another at the anus; the eyes are black and very prominent; there are two large dark brown spots on the thorax, about the size of peas; two others more oblong behind; and others of various forms and sizes on the fore legs; the elytra are reticulated with white, and are very thick and strong; the interior wings are membranaceous, and of a delicate straw colour.-This is not only the largest, but the most destructive and voracious, of the genus, attacking and devouring, in its creeping state, toads, frogs, lizards, aquatic insects, and even fish; and in its winged state, preying upon reptiles, birds, and the larger animals, and even on the weaker individuals of its own family.

THE Caterpillar, as we have already mentioned, is a name common to the larvæ of many varieties of insects. In September they may be seen in great abundance. They keep together under the cover of a fine web, which they spin to defend themselves from the inclemency of the weather; and in the protection of this they pass the winter months. During this time they are so nearly reduced to a torpid state, as to require no food, nor do they venture out of their general covering till invited by the warmth of the spring. As they afterwards increase in size, they spread abroad in search of food; but their local attachment is very remarkable, for neither the Caterpillar nor even the butterfly will stray far from the place where it was bred. Numbers of the latter may sometimes be observed on the wing, in a small spot of swampy or marsh land, where not one of them is to be met with in any of the adjacent places. As they fly very low, and frequently settle, they are easily caught. The Caterpillars are generally at their full growth about the last week in April; when this takes place, they suspend themselves by the tail to change into chrysalids, in which state they remain fourteen days. Their mode of suspension is a singular instance of the extraordinary power of instinct. They first draw two or three blades of grass across towards their top, and fasten them together by means of their silk: then hang themselves beneath the centre of these, each having its own little canopy. By this means they are not

only hidden from the sight of birds, but defended in a great measure from the damage they might otherwise sustain from windy and boisterous weather.

THE SILKWORM.

THIS wonderful insect, which is the larva of a moth of no great beauty, is found in a native state on mulberry trees in China, and some other of the eastern countries, from whence it was originally introduced into Europe in the reign of the Emperor Justinian. It is, however, at this time become, in a commercial view, one of the most valuable of all insects; affording those delicate and beautiful threads that are afterwards woven into silk, and used in almost all parts of the world.

In the warmer climates of the east, these insects are left at liberty upon the trees, where they are hatched, and on which they form their coccoons; but in cooler countries, where they have been introduced, they are kept in a room with a south aspect, built for the purpose, and fed every day with fresh leaves. Their eggs are of a straw colour, and each about the size of a pin's head. At its birth the larva or worm is entirely black, and about as long as a small ant; and it retains this colour eight or nine days. The worms are put on wicker shelves, covered first with paper, and on this with a bed of the most tender of the mulberry leaves. Several ranges are placed, one above another, in the same chamber, about a foot and a half apart. The scaffolding for these ranges should, however, be in the middle of the room, and the shelves not too deep. Near the expiration of thirty days, they begin to make their coccoons, after which they prepare for their final dissolution. The cone, or coccoon, somewhat resembles a pigeon's egg, and the whole length of the thread which it contains will sometimes measure three hundred yards.

THE PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY.

BUTTERFLIES are of the Lepidopterous order. The Butterfly may be said to consist of three parts; the head, the corslet, and the body. The body is the hinder part, and is composed of rings, which are generally concealed under long hairs with which that part of the animal is clothed. The corslet is more solid than the rest of the body, and in which the fore wings and the legs are fixed. They have six legs, but make use of only four; the two fore feet are covered by the long hairs of the body, and are sometimes so much concealed, that it is difficult to discover them. The eyes of Butterflies have not all the same form; in some they are the larger portion of a sphere; in others they are but a small part of it, and just appearing from the head; in some also they are small, and in others large: but in all of them, the outer coat has a lustre, in which may be discovered all the various colours in the rainbow. It has, likewise, the appearance of a multiplying-glass, having a great number of sides, or facets, in the manner of a brilliant cut diamond. In this particular, the eye of the Butterfly and of most other insects correspond.

The wings of Butterflies are very different from