66 were chirping and twittering gaily, as they fluttered round the old walls of the building. M'Naghten's right arm had been unfettered, his left still wore the manacle, and the gaoler stood near with his bunch of keys in his hand, whose jingling at every move he made, formed a strange sound for a bridal ceremony. M'Naghten loudly and calmly repeated the vows -Julia bent forward and whispered them, but when she came to the words Until death us do part"-she could not utter them, she sunk upon M'Naghten's breast, he attempted to throw his arms around her, but his manacled hand prevented him, and the links of the chain clanked with a dismal sound. The rough gaoler was moved, he released his hand, and a tear stole even along his hardened cheek. The clergyman continued to read, Julia's head still rested on M'Naghten's bosom, and her long, lank hair was falling down upon his neck. Her lovely countenance was glowing with a hectic flush, and the damp dews of mortality were resting on her forehead. His eyes were turned upwards as if in prayerthe ceremony concluded, and it only remained for the clergyman to join their hands, and pronounce them man and wife. He gently disengaged her arm from Edmond's neck, he placed her hand in his—it was cold and clammy-he pronounced "What God hath joined together, let not man put asun der"-but he said the solemn words as if he felt that they were vain, they were, alas! too soon to be put asunder; he changed the blessing to a prayer. M'Naghten responded a deep and a thrilling Amen! Julia screamed hysterically, and sunk again. They bore her to the open window, the evening breeze fanned her temples, but it was in vain, she hung a heavy weight upon their arms-her spirit had fled from the scene of her sufferings and sorrows, and M'Naghten clasped in his arms the clay-cold corpse of his bride. 66 A few words more, and I have done. -M'Naghten's interest and the exertions of his friends procured for him a pardon, and the evening on which he returned to "M'Naghten," the hills for miles around were lit with the bonfires of the rejoicing peasantry, but he did not long survive the ruin he had wrought. A few weeks passedand the mournful procession slowly wound its way to the family vault with his remains. He died of a broken heart.-Tradition still points to the spot where he mounted his horse upon that fatal night, and there the trees are stunted and low, and there is no vegetation but the rank hemlock; and some have said that they have heard strange and unearthly sounds, and voices as of persons walking to and fro mid the stillness of the night, as if a curse still rested on the spot. FOLIA SIBYLLINA II. Farewell to the world, to its joys and its splendour, My soul thirsted once after freedom and glory, I once long'd to share the affection of woman, For I found that the eyes which but love should illumine, Tho' I felt that the bliss of the present was fleeting, ENTOMOLOGY.* Entomology is a science comparatively of modern growth. It is suited only to ages of refinement and advancement in knowledge-when the mind of man, in some measure informed respecting the grander and more striking objects of creation, has time to turn its attention to minuter inquiries-to seek an acquaintance with the hidden mysteries of nature-to pursue her to her secret recesses, and snatch, as it were, from her unwilling hand that knowledge which, from the limited powers of our organs, we might have concluded to be "non homini datum." Difficult and laborious was the research, and small indeed was the reward, of the earlier pursuers of this science. When Sulker showed his work on insects, with plates, to two clever men, one commended him for employing his leisure hours in drawing pictures that would be very entertaining to children; the other said, "they would make pretty patterns for ladies aprons." In vulgar minds, minuteness is always coupled with insignificance-size with importance-their wonder is expressed by exaggeration-their heroes tower above the common height their gods are giants. To such the microscope unfolds its wonders in vain. They look with distrustful contempt on accounts of structure and contrivance, that they have neither patience to observe, nor intellect to comprehend. They meet you with a stale retort about butterfly-hunters and gnat-collectors; and consider the philosopher an idiot when he declares, Nusquam natura est major quam in minimis." Yet we are ever destined to find extremes meet. This despised and abused class of creation has in turn supplied subjects for Pagan adoration, for Jewish fable, and for Christian legend. The scientific study of Entomology we may consider as commencing with Linnæus. Aristotle, certainly, in the portion of his great work, eg Zwwv "Icrogas, which he devotes to insects, exhibits his usual accuracy of observation, and distinguished powers of classification. Many of his divisions are in use at present, the very names he gave them preserved, and we can scarcely point out more than one remarkable error into which he has fallen, namely, that of upholding equivocal generation. Centuries added little worth notice to the observations he made. Pliny and Ælian, labourers in this field of natural history, supply us more with the fables of superstition than the results of experience, with bulky commentaries, than established facts. At the revival of science, insects came in for some share of notice. Albertus Magnus, deservedly so called from the size of his works, bestowed one volume, out of twenty-one folios on natural history, upon insects. He calls them by the general name of worms-describes butterflies as flying-worms, flies as flyworms, spiders as spider-worms, and, to finish all, calls the toad and the frog, which he includes in this class, quadruped-worms ! Aldrorandus, Gesner, Mouffet, an English physician of the Elizabethan age, and Goedarts, famous for his accurate drawings, followed him in this line; but the science is mainly indebted, during this period, to Redi, Leeuwenhoek, Swammerdam, and our own countryman, Ray. Redi is chiefly remarkable for his " Esperienza intorna alla Generazione degl' Insetti," in which is a full exposure and refutation of the ridiculous theory of equivocal generation, which had maintained its place in the schools since the days of Aristotle. Harvey was the first who dared to attack this absurd doctrine, and his maxim, " omnia ex ovo," was fully canvassed and established by two of Italy's ablest physiologists, Redi and Malphigi. Swammerdam The Animal Kingdom, arranged in conformity with its organization, by the Baron Cuvier, with supplementary additions to each order, by E. Griffith, E. Pidgeon, and G. Gray. Vols. xiv. and xv. Insecta. London: Whittaker and Co. 1832. was one of those geniusses who gain their fame after they are lost to the world. His beautiful dissections of insects, which even in this advanced age of the science are consulted with admiration, dropped from the press "unnoticed and unknown." A second work, prefaced by him, his great "Biblia Naturæ," no bookseller would undertake to print, and the author was too poor to do it himself; yet, within two years after his death, his "Historia Insectorum" had been translated into Latin, French, and English. His fame spread abroad into all lands, and when, a few years after, Boerhaave fortunately rescued from the obscurity of a museum, and published to the world his Biblia Naturæ, mankind, ever just, though often late in doing justice to real merit, acknowledged that a giant had been amongst them, and they had not known it. The system which he attempted to establish was founded on the consideration of the metamorphoses insects undergo. It was too artificial in the arrangement to stand, but it has afforded a clue to future entomologists, which, skilfully followed up, has guided them to most important discoveries. From this time the science has proceeded with pretty sure steps. Its importance has been acknowledged, and the wonders it unfolds have been appreciated. Ray followed up Swammerdam's ideas in classification, and added many accurate and original observations. Madam Merian's beautiful illustrations of the metamorphoses of the butterflies of Surinam tended not a little to increase its popularity; and the establishment of our Royal Society, about this period, gave a new and powerful impulse to the study of this as well as other branches of natural history. Nothing was now wanted but a master-mind; one capable of viewing, with philosophic eye, the works that existed on this subject-of embracing them in one comprehensive glance-of catching the points of analogy they presented, and systematizing them all into one harmonious whole. This mind was found in Linnæus. He impressed on the science that form, the general outlines of which it still retains; and if systems derive their value from simplicity of principle, and the assistance they afford the memory, (which, VOL. I. after all, we look on as their real use), his bids fair to a lasting duration. Build-ing his orders on the character of a single set of organs, the wings; and the varieties of his genera on the character of particular parts of the head, especially of the antennæ, it is astonishing how nearly his arrangement approaches a natural one. In the Terminology, or, as Mr. Kirby would call it, the Orismology, of the science, he has made equal improvements, and his introduction of the "trivial name" has almost done for Entomology what Lavoisier so skilfully accomplished for chemistry. This trivial name was, when practicable, taken from some easily observed peculiarity; but perhaps greater ingenuity was exhibited in applying it to those species which, from their inhabiting foreign climates, could not so readily be subjected to our notice. We copy one illustration of this. "Butterflies are divided into sections, by the names equites, heliconii, danai, nymphales, and plebei. As great numbers of these are foreign, it would be impossible to make the trivial names significant. Linnæus, therefore, by way of simile, has taken the name of the equites from Trojan history. These he divides into two troops or bodies; of which one contains the sable and, as it were, mourning nobles, having red or bloody_spots at the basis of their wings. These receive names from the Trojan nobles, the most splendid amongst them of course being Priam. The other body, ornamented with a variety of gay colours, are distinguished by the names of the Grecian heroes; and as in both armies there were kings, as well as officers, of inferior rank, those elegant butterflies, whose hinder wings resembled tails, were distinguished by some royal name. Thus, when Paris is mentioned, knowing him to be a Trojan of royal blood, we find him among those of the first section; i. e. those of a sable colour, spotted in the breast with red, and having their hinder wings resembling tails. Agamemnon, of course, will have variegated and swallow-tailed wings, but Nereus will be in the second section, having wings, but no tails. We must now pass over numbers who have either improved the philosophy or adorned the details of the science : the ingenious De Geer, systematist, anatomist, and physiologist ; 2 U the learned Fabricius, whose classification, founded on the organs of manducation, is only too refined to become popular, and of whom Linnaeus is reported to have said, "Si Dominus Fabricius veniat cum aliquo insecto, vel Dominus Zoega cum aliquo musco, tunc ego pileum detraho et dico: estote doctores mei."-The indefatigable Reaumur, to whose preeminent merits, Kirby says, "A volume would scarcely suffice to do justice; for we must now hasten to the work, the title of which we have placed at the head of this article. In the year 1800, Cuvier, assisted by Dumeril, brought out his celebrated "Anatomie Comparée." In the portion of this work devoted to the invertebrated animals, ample justice is done to the insect tribes. Too much occupied, however, with the other divisions of animated nature, to lend to this interesting part all the attention it required, he looked anxiously round for some suitable fellow-labourer, on whom he might devolve the execution of this volume of his grand and crowning work the Regne animal.' His eye fell on Latreille. Already favourably known to the scientific world by his "Prècis des caractères génériques des insectes," as well as by his various contributions to the "Annales du Museum d' Histoire Naturelle," and other philosophic periodicals, M. Latreille proved himself fully worthy of the confidence reposed in him. Like his countryman Jussieu he disregarded all artificial systems, and attempted to construct one on a natural basis. He neither followed Linnaeus nor Fabricius; but adopting what was excellent in each, has become the founder of what Mr. Kirby terms the Eclectic system, judiciously adopting the sensible maxim of Scopoli, "Classes et genera naturalia, non solum instrumenta cibaria, non solæ alæ, nec solæ antennæ constituunt, sed structura totius, ac cujusque vel minimi discriminis diligentissima observatio.” The feelings with which M. Latreille set about this important task are as creditable to his modesty, as the execution of it is to his talents. After expressing his regret, that his other numerous engagements prevented Cuvier himself from performing this part of the work, he goes on to say, "J'ai contracté un obligation bien grande, et je me suis imposé un tâche aussi hardie pour le plan que difficile dans l' execution. Réunir dans un cadre trèslimité les faits les plus piquans de l'histoire des insectes, les classer avec précision et netteté dans une série naturelle, dessiner á grands traits la physionomie de ces animaux, tracer d'une manière laconique et rigoreuse leurs caractères distinctifs en suivant une marche qui soit en rapport avec les progrès successifs de la science et ceux d' elève, signaler les espèces utiles ou nuisibles, celles qui par leur manière de vivre interessent notre curiosité, indiquer les meillures sources où l' on puisera la connaisance des autres, rendre a l' entomologie cette aimable simplicité qu'elle a eue dans le temps de Linnaeus, de Geoffroy et des premières productions de Fabricius, la presenter néanmoins telle qu'elle est aujourd'hui, ou avec toutes les richesses d'observations qu'elle a acquises, mais sans trop l'en surcharger, le conformer, en un mot, au modèle que j'avais sous les yeux, l'ouvrage de M. Cuvier; tel est le but que je me suis efforcé d'attein dre." Assisted by the anatomical investigations of Cuvier, he has thus furnished what he calls "une grande esquisse de l'Entomologie," which is made the foundation of the two very interesting volumes before us, in which this sketch is beautifully filled in with all the most valuable information derivable from other sources, embracing some entertaining original matter supplied by the editors themselves, already well known in the literary and philosophic world. The plan of this work was thus briefly described by them in the preface to their first volume. Thus while a com plete translation of the " Regne animal" is given, with as much closeness and accuracy as the corresponding idioms of the two languages will permit, much that is interesting and important from the pens of other modern naturalists and travellers, and from original sources, will be found subjoined by way of supplement." It only remains for us to say, that their task has been performed in the most praiseworthy manner in the volumes before us; the translations are generally correct, and neither labour nor expence seem to have been spared in the literary and pictorial illustrations. We present our readers with a few extracts from the work to enable them to judge for themselves. And first of the rank which insects are entitled to hold in the animal kingdom. "Having once established that the existence of the organs of motion and sensation is the characteristic distinction of animals, it is certain that the more that these faculties are developed in animals, the more are the latter removed from vegetables, and vice versa. "The degree of this development is easily observed. If we find animals endowed with the faculty of reproducing themselves by germs or slips; being able to exist only in a liquid medium; often fixed upon a point in the midst of their aliment, which many of them absorb through external pores; shewing but few vestiges of anything like motion-such animals assuredly exhibit the nearest possible relation to plants. They have neither distinct nerves, nor organs of sense, with the exception of passive feeling; no alimentary or digestive tube, no articulated appendages for motion, no distinct organs of respiration. These are the Zoophytes, the last class of animated nature." "We next find animals condemned for the most part to live in water, whose motions are slow, and often hardly perceptible. They are therfore destitute of several of the organs of sense though possessing nerves. They have no articulated limbs. Their mode of generation somewhat resembles that of plants. Sometimes there is a triple complication of distinct individual sex; sometimes the sexes are united in one and the same being-such are the mollusca." "The living creatures next in the scale, cannot be considered much more perfect than the last. They are either inhabitants of the water, or some constantly obscure and humid medium, and are destitute of almost all the organs of the senses. Their body, it is true, is divided into rings, which facilitate locomotion, but it is unfurnished with those articulated appendages, which constitute limbs. Their nerves are well distinguished and knotty, and from each of the knots or ganglia, radiations of threads proceed towards the organs. The sexes are united. These are the worms." two following classes, have the trunk formed of distinct and articulated levers, and are furnished with limbs or lateral appendages, destined for various motions, according to their mode of existence. Those which live in the water have organs appropriate to that medium, being provided with gills; these are the crustacea. In the others, the air penetrates into the various parts of the body, through apertures conducting into aeriferous tubes named tracheæ ; these are insects. They are far more animalised, if we may be allowed the phrase, that is farther removed from the vegetable existence than any of the preceding classes. They are endowed with sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. They enjoy all the various modes of motion on the water, on the earth, and through the air. In the organs destined for nutrition and generation, they are fully on a par with animals of a more elevated order." "We have said sufficient to shew the elevated rank which the insects should hold in the classification of the animal kingdom. They should certainly be placed immediately after the vertebralia, over even which, they may be said to possess more advantages than one." (Vol. I. pp. 37-38.) This quotation we have given, not as exactly according with our own views of the subject, but as affording our readers some idea of the principles of classification followed by the gentlemen who have undertaken this work. We shall next afford them specimens of the entertainment they may expect in perusing its pages. The dangerous consequences that would arise from the extensive putrefaction of animal matter are well known. Of the agents employed to remove such matter, perhaps few are more singular than the species of beetle to which, from their peculiar habits, Fabricius gives the name of Necrophorus. Instinct tells them, that their young when first born require a supply of animal food, and they prepare it for them in the following ingenious manner. "M. Gleditsh had often observed, that dead moles, birds, and other small animals, when laid upon the ground, especially upon loose earth, were almost sure to disappear in the course of two or three days-often of twelve hours. To ascertain the cause he |