height of a few inches, but to that of twenty, fifty, and even more than a hundred feet! Go and ask some philosopher why is this? And he will talk to you about hair-like tubes attracting liquids, and thus causing them to rise; but, after all, the wisest among us have much on this, as well as every other subject, to learn.

4

Heat is doubtless most active and powerful in this change; but suppose, instead of coming gradually, it put forth its energy at once. Think of what would happen were we visited first with the summer sun instead of that of spring. The sap would rush violently through the tender vessels of plants, and many would, in consequence, be totally destroyed. The leaf and the flower would instantly burst forth where the shock could be sustained, only to wither and perish. Where would then be the fruits of the earth? See then how much we are indebted to that order of things which God has established.

Now let us look to animated nature. "A bee among the flowers, in spring," says Paley, "is one of the cheerfullest objects that can be looked upon. Its life appears to be all enjoyment, so busy and so pleased." Other insects are also in motion. The brimstone butterfly, which might have been observed before, appears

now in greater numbers. And there, too, is a peacock butterfly! How beautiful are its colours!

The

speckled wood, the red admiral, and the tortoiseshell butterflies, are also fluttering in the air.

Let not

these, then, pass without our notice. Rather may we

say :

،، We wonder at a thousand insect forms,
These hatched, and those resuscitated worms,
New life ordain'd, and brighter scenes to share,
Once prone on earth, now buoyant upon air."

The wings of the bee are very beautiful. They are four in number, smooth and glossy, and consist of a fine, delicate, transparent membrane, traversed by fibres, which act as a sort of framework, giving to the wings all the firmness and strength they require, Bring out the microscope that marvellous instrument for showing a little world in a drop of water, and a wonder worthy of God in the smallest object—and those fibres will repay observation. They are little tubes, and contain air; and it is thought that the insect can at pleasure direct air into these tubes so as to expand them to the utmost. Thus they become more tense, and more fully stretch the membrane which they support. Birds, as is well known, have the bones of the wings hollow, and connected with the lungs, from which they are filled with air; and it is probable that there is a great likeness between the wings of insects and of birds.

The wing of the butterfly, like that of the bee, has fibres supporting a membrane, but this is wonderfully

SCALES ON THE WINGS OF INSECTS.

covered with very small downy scales. It is the same with moths. Nor are those scales all alike. On the contrary, six large engravings of what is called a quarto volume, are filled with representations of the different forms of the scales with which the wing of an insect is arrayed. Seen through a powerful glass, these scales have a body, and a little root; they overlap each other like the tiles of a house, and are disposed with great regularity. Their closeness and minuteness give an appearance to the wing of being powdered. When touched, some of them come off on the finger, and they may all be easily removed, leaving the membrane clear and transparent. To count the number of these scales is almost impossible. In each of the small wings of the silk moth, no fewer than 200,000 of them have been reckoned. In several instances, these scales have many beautiful and regular lines upon them. These are very fine, and are again crossed by others still finer. As the light falls upon them, its rays produce the changeful and brilliant tints by which the scales are adorned. So true are the lines, "In down of every variegated dye

Shines fluttering soft, the radiant butterfly :
That powder which thy spoiling hand disdains,
The form of quills and painted plumes contains;
Not courts can more magnificence express

In all their blaze of gems, and pomp of dress."

Very different is the flight of the bee from that of the butterfly. In the one, the movements are steady and rapid; in the other, zig-zag, irregular, and seemingly capricious. It has been observed, that insects with scale-covered wings, are less steady and rapid in their flight than such as have wings of simple membrane and without clothing.

Of the strength of the muscles, by which the fanlike wings of insects are worked, it is difficult to conceive. Count, if you can, the vibrations of the wing of a bee or a gnat? Even the common fly will play round the most rapid steam-carriage at full speed. Not only does it move onwards with the same rapidity as the train, but it does so wheeling round in circles of greater or less extent, thus traversing a far greater extent than if it kept only a direct course.

Insects excel birds in their powers of flight, at least by comparison; and their strength is proportionately superior to that either of birds or quadrupeds. Ants, for example, will carry loads from thirty to forty times heavier than their own bodies. The strength of the common chafer-beetle has been computed, in proportion to its bulk, to be six times greater than that of the horse. Had the elephant the same proportionate strength as the stag-beetle is capable of