two at a time, which are immediately dropped | her young on the fleshy side of hides. They on their food somewhere. She lives generally abound round slaughter-houses. These flies (S. three or four weeks, and dies after she has exhausted her egg-coil. The maggot is rather flat, tapering at the head and tail; whitish, and covered moderately with hairs. It is very active and voracious, and loses no time in demolishing the substance on which it is placed. It then crawls off, and attains the ground, if possible. If not, the nearest crack, where it closes up its segments gradually. The pupa-case differs materially from those of others of the same family, having light bands around it, and a rim at the top of small divisions, which leave a very minute opening in the centre as a breathing orifice. At a (Figure 15) you perceive a singular breathing-tube of the larva of another viviparous fly. When shut it resembles a crown. This fly (Sarcophagus corium-" Hide-Fly") places a FIGURE 15.-HIDE-FLY. a Breathing Tube.-6 Antenna vigilans and S. corium) resemble each other very much; but their larvæ render them very distinct. The hairs on the antennæ of the last are shorter, with bristles at the extreme tips. These flies have all two wings, you perceive, with haltieres. They belong to the great division of Diptera, and to various sub-genera, which my space will not allow me to designate. Those belonging to the Musca do not change their skins in the larva state, like other insects, but undergo their transformations in the old skin. They pass through an amorphous state, which means that they have neither mouth nor organs of locomotion-neither moving nor eating during transition-and bearing in this state no resemblance to the perfect insect. The two following flies belong to another great division, the Hymenoptera, to the sub-genera Allantites and Tenthredinites-"SawFlies." To cursory observation they appear to be common flies; but upon examination they prove to be as dissimilar as the dog and the cat. The Selandria ribesii-"Gooseberry and Raspberry Saw-Fly" (Figure 16)-is found not only on the gooseberry and raspberry, but on the currant, and even the alder (Alnus glutinosa), when either of the former are missing. It has a flat body, covered with yellowish hair, and its wings are very clear. It differs from the Nematus ribesii by having no brown on the outer edges of the wings; and the larva partakes more of the slug. What renders these little flies remarkable is the wonderful saw with which many of them are furnished. This saw is put in motion in the same manner in which a carpenter uses his, if you suppose that the tendons (a, Figure 18) compose the handle. But this little creature can do more than he. She works two saws at once, whereas he is confined to one; one side is advanced and the other retracted alternately. They work in the same cut; and although the teeth are exceedingly fine, the result is the same as if the mechanic used a saw with what is termed "a wide set." They can not bend or separate while in operation, for the backs of the saws are lodged in a groove composed of two membra neous plates, which are very thick near the body | show very little exteriorly-like a small blister at the top of the saws, but thin off as they taper downward. These grooves serve likewise as an oviduct for the eggs to descend to the hole sawed in the leaf. The teeth of this saw, as you perceive, are denticulated with finer teeth; and these possess not only the properties of the saw but combine those of a rasp. These teeth are long and thickly placed on the back of this little instrument. When she has selected her leaf she bends her body inward in a half circle, and slits up the skin of the leaf, or the bark, in some genera. When she has made it deep enough she straightens her abdomen and works the saw lengthwise until she has rendered the groove of the desired size. The motion is now interrupted, and down slides an egg into the cavity. She then draws her saw nearly into the sheath, and at the same time a drop of white frothy liquid covers the egg, and shields it from the action of the fluids of the tree and from atmospheric changes. When the grooves are finished they FIGURE 17.-CHERRY SAW-FLY (LYDA CERASI). on your skin; but by-and-by they commence to She These false caterpillars, as they are called, have six legs and sixteen pro-legs. At first they are of a faded greenish color, covered with small black dots, and as rough as shagreen. After their last moulting they lose these dots, and become nearly white, very smooth, with a few hairs on the head. They commit great havoc on the foliage of the delightful fruits upon which they dwell. The larva generally feeds three weeks, then descends two or three inches into the ground, where, rolling and twisting its body, it forms an oval cavity which it lines with a soft, silky texture; it being very sticky on the outside, the grains of sand adhere to it and form a close covering. Here it undergoes its transformation, and in twenty days comes out a perfect insect. There are two broods a year-the last remain ing over the winter. The Lyda cerasi-"Cherry Saw-Fly" (Figure 17)-is of the family of Tenthredinida, sub-genus Lyda. It is a large shining black fly, with tawny legs and feet, and very transparent wings, wrinkled, as this family generally has them. a. Saw open for Use.-b. Saw used as Ovipositor and Egg.e. Section of Saw.-d. Pupa-Case.-e. Antenna.-f. Larva magnified. a. Saw closed.-8. Chrysalis and Pupa-Case.-c. Larva newly hatched.-d. Larva after the last Moult former fly, but is not so complicated. It is used exactly in the same manner. The egg is similarly deposited, and the process of growth is the same. The larva differs, having but six feet (and no pro-legs), very rough, with spines at first; moulting four times-finishing the course as an ugly, slimy, greenish brown "slug," committing sad depredation on the cherry, particularly on the wild, and very well content with the pear-tree when the other is not to be obtained. It is found every season in company with others of the same family whenever these fruit trees abound. It undergoes its transformations in a cell composed in the same manner as the other, except the chrysalis is very white and transparent. There are two broods a year, and the pupa remain over the winter. Now what do you say to my Congress? Has it not worthy members? Knowing their duties, they perform them silently and willingly, leaving the results to a higher Power. Working for the whole-constantly, energetically, and unrepiningly the abnegation of self reads a lesson to reasonable beings full of meaning and pathos. "Thus," says Goethe, "Nature addresses herself to the recognized, the misused, and unknown senses: thus by thousands of phenomena she speaks with herself and to us; to the attentive listener she is nowhere dead-never silent." THE LAST OF THE DANDIES. MR. THACKERAY tells us that having, as he supposed, created his famous Captain Costigan out of innumerable odds and ends and scraps of character, he was one night, while smoking in a London tavern, surprised by the entrance of the very man himself, with the same little coat, battered hat, and twinkling eye with which he had been presented in the pages of Pendennis. When the novelist asked the newcomer if he might offer him a glass of brandy and water, the reply was, "Bedad, ye may; and I'll sing ye a song tu;" given in the very brogue with which he had endowed his own tipsy old vagabond. "How had I come to know him? how to divine him?" asks Mr. Thackeray. "Nothing shall ever convince me that I have not seen that man in the world of spirits." If "Captain GRONOW, formerly of the Grenadier Guards, and M.P. for Stafford," had happened to call upon Mr. Thackeray, he must, in like manner, have been recognized as the "Major Pendennis" whom he thought he had created. And now that the great satirist has read the little book of the Captain, he must be convinced that he must have known him in the spirit long before the Major was created. "Who is Captain Gronow?" He is the last of the "Dandies" of the Regency of George IV.; the sole survivor-unless we except the present octogenarian Prime Minister-of the favored mortals who, forty years ago, danced at Almack's with the fair and frail Lady Jersey; dined at White's with Alvanley, Kangaroo Cook, Hughes Ball, Red-Herring Yarmouth, and other worthies who have long passed the Styx; who had looked with hopeless envy upon the wonderful coats and miraculous cravats of Beau Brummell and Gentleman George; who knew the men who had penetrated the sacred mysteries of Carlton House; and who never appeared by daylight until afternoon, when the world was sufficiently aired for their advent. In 1812 Gronow, a lad fresh from Eton, received an ensign's commission in the Guards, was sent to Spain, where he showed pluck and spirit; went back to London and was admitted to the most select circles of fashion, being one of the half dozen out of three hundred officers of the Guards who had vouchers for Almack's, whose sacred portals were jealously watched by the lady patronesses; and which no mortal man might pass except in full dress. Wellington himself, coming in trowsers, was once remorselessly turned back. Gronow now speaks somewhat irreverently of the seven lady patronesses, whose smiles or frowns forty years ago consigned men and women to happiness or despair. Lady Jersey's bearing was that of a tragedy queen, while attempting the sublime she frequently became ridiculous, being inconceivably rude, and often ill-bred. Lady Sefton was kind and amiable; Madame de Lieven haughty and exclusive. Princess Esterhazy was a bon enfant-a "good creature;" Lady Castlereagh and Mrs. grandes dames-mighty stuck-up ladies." The Burrell, now Lady Westmoreland, were de très most popular of all was Lady Cowper, now Lady Palmerston. Gronow gives a curious picture, representing one of the first quadrilles ever attempted at Almack's. The ladies wear short-waisted, tight-fitting dresses, which give the impression, of a total absence of under-garments. The gen- | holds is the fair and frail Lady Jersey, hightlemen wear knee-breeches, and pumps, with priestess of the shrine of fashion. The active square-tailed coats. The Roman-nosed person-youth who kicks up his heels like a young colt, age whose head is well thrown back, as if to prevent his eyes from being gouged out by his pointed shirt collar, is the Most Noble the Marquis of Worcester. The lady whose hand he while he gallantly bends over to kiss the hand of his partner, is Clanronald Macdonald, otherwise unknown to fame. The lady who wheels around on tip-toe is Lady Worcester. |