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°f gorgeous hue, such as no art could reach ; they 

 pass the summer's day sipping the food of fabled 

 gods. In very joyousness of life, they dart from 

 flower to flower, compelling their stately rivals to 

 droop their beauteous heads as in obeisance to their 

 victor's claim. 



To name a few varieties as exceedingly beautiful. 

 — Morpho, Caligo, Dynastor, Siderona, Aganistios, 

 Pandora, Prepona, Agrias, Agesilaus, Argus, &c. 



No. 3. Fireflies. — Homoptera Order. Elaterince 

 tribe. — Feed upon the flowers and leaves of plants. 

 Brilliant stars, bringing to earth the spangled firma- 

 ments as sparks from anvil fly and cloud with wondrous 

 lustre the foliage green. Now here, now there, love's 

 torch displays its light to distant mate, and silent 

 calls to join the dancing myriad throng. Now lights 

 are sudden gone, and darkness for the moment reigns ; 

 then burst upon the sight ten thousand lamps of 

 heavenly light and charms with rapture the as- 

 tonished gaze. 



Names. Elater noctilucus. Elater Ignitus. Chal- 

 copedius sulcata. Lampyris Italica. A small variety 

 is common in the West Indies — the writer having 

 easily read books by the light emitted from one or 

 two insects. 



No. 4. Singing Cicadas. — Homoptera Order. 

 Cicadidre tribe. — Feed upon the juices of living 

 plants. Clinging to a tree stem, they would greet their 

 visitors with the music of the woods. Cicada, 

 Cicada, Cic-Cic-Cic-Cicada, we hear the sound, and 

 eager creep to spot whence comes, when, lo, 'tis gone ! 

 — but yet again, Cicada, Cicada. We look in vain, for 

 Nature's own ventriloquist has played us false. 



Names. — Fedicina munnifera ; Fedicina opalina, 

 Brazil ; Toplia saccata, Australia ; Polyneiira ducalis, 

 India. 



No. 5. Horned Cicadas. — Homoptera Order. Cen- 

 tronaditse tribe. — Feed upon the juices of living 

 plants. Divergent are the works of creation, as- 

 cending to the sublime in the enamelled wings of the 

 gorgeous butterfly, yet condescending to the absolute 

 grotesque in the remarkable form of the horned 

 cicada. 



Names. — Membracis spinosa, Bocidium globulare, 

 S. America. 



No. 6. Leaf Insects. — Orthoptera Order. Gryllidae 

 tribe. — Feed upon the juices of living plants. A 

 wonderful group ; and link, as it were, by their 

 marvellous similitude, the insect and vegetable worlds 

 together. 



Names. — Pterochroza ocellata. — The coloured leaf 

 insect, Brazil. Pneumora rubens. — -The rose bladder 

 leaf insect, S. Africa. Pneumora viridis. — The 

 green bladder leaf insect, S. Africa. 



No. 7. Phasma Insects, — Orthoptera Order. Phas- 

 mime tribe. — Feed upon the juices of living plants. 

 " The great moisture of the climate of Fernand Vaz, 

 equatorial Africa, is well adapted for the insect world, 

 and would prove a very rich field for a naturalist and 



collector. Some insects looked exactly like the leaves 

 on which they remain, others are exactly of the 

 colour of the bark on which they crawl, whilst 

 others looked like dead leaves, and one or two like 

 pieces of dead branches of trees." 



Names. — Cladomorphus phy Ilium. — The Brazilian 

 walking-stick. Batteria sarmentosa. — The Indian 

 walking stick, E. Indies. Phy Ilium siccifolium — 

 The walking leaf, E. Indies. Diura chromos, 

 Eclatosoma tiaratum, Eclatosoma eurycanthus. 



No. 8. The Praying Mantis. — Orthoptera Order, 

 Mantidse tribe. — Feed upon flies, reptiles, &c. So 

 named from its remarkable habit of lifting up and 

 holding its front legs together for long periods, as if 

 in the act of prayer, but somewhat at variance with 

 so commendable an appearance, we find the praying 

 mantis given to most pugnacious, sanguinary and 

 voracious habits. It is recorded of one kept in 

 captivity, that it consumed daily some dozens of flies, 

 occasionally a large grasshopper, also young frogs, 

 large fat caterpillars, and even lizards three times its 

 own length. 



The Hottentot worships it, the Turk venerates it, 

 and the Chinaman keeps it caged for fighting 

 purposes. 



The larvse are just as bad as their parents, and will 

 fight and destroy each other. 



Names. — Mantis gongylodts, Empula gongylodes, 

 Mantis attcnuata ; common in China, Turkey, Greece, 

 Brazil. 



No. 9. Crickets. — Orthoptera Order, Achetidae 

 tribe. Are omnivorous in their dietary requirements. 

 The cricket in the insectorium might become as 

 familiar an acquaintance as the "cricket on the 

 hearth," and "chirrup," "chirrup," "chirrup," an 

 old friend's greeting, but under an entirely new aspect. 



Names. — Silizotochylus monstrans. — Large Chinese 

 Cricket. Deinacrida heteracantha. — New Zealand 

 tree cricket. 



No. 10. Cockroaches. — Orthoptera Order. — Blattida? 

 tribe. Are omnivorous in their dietary requirements. 

 Giant ancestors of our but too familiar black-beetle, 

 and presenting an appearance such as to render us but 

 too thankful for small mercies, in the degeneration of 

 their descendants. 



Names. Blatta gigantea. — Giant cockroach, Brazil. 

 Acanthops fuscofolius, Brazil. Harpax ocellata, East 

 Indies. Blepharis mendica, Turkey. 



No. 11. Snout Beetles. — Coleoptera Order. Capri- 

 corn tribe. — Feed upon the juices of living plants. 

 Some of the very remarkable formations in which 

 Creative power delights to vary creation -work. 

 Special adaptations for special purposes, and evi- 

 dences of an inexhaustible omnipotence, unapproached 

 and unapproachable. 



Names. Cyphus Augustus. — Platyomus iugens, 

 Brazil. 



No. 12. Giant Beetles. — Coleoptera Order. Capri- 

 corn tribe . — Feed upon solid or decayed wood. 



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