84 INJURIOUS INSECTS. 



the flies from their stalls , and the author of " Hector St. John's American 

 Letters" says, the famiei-s in some parts of the United States encourage 

 both Hornets (Vespa Grabo) and Wasps, for a similar purpose. It is well 

 known to naturalists, that Wasps are both pirates and cannibals : wherever 

 they fly, like the eagle or the falcon, they form a desert in the air around 

 them. They are particularly destructive to the Hive-Bee, {Apis mellifica,) 

 and not only rob them of the fruit of their industrious labour, but murder 

 the very makers ; nay, they even devour their enemies. In these particulars, 

 they resemble many of our own species. How many men are wasps in the 

 liighest degree, in respect to their fellow-creatures ! The difference is, that 

 Wasps are voracious by the natural instinct which impels them to provide 

 for a numerous family ; whereas man is a malefactor by choice, and in oppo- 

 sition to the reason that enlightens him. 



The manner of constructing their dwellings, and the materials employed, 

 must form the subject of another paper. 



5, Middle-Street, Taunton. 



PROGRESS OF THE SEASONS. 

 THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE.— JANUARY. 



BY WILLIAM KIDD, ESQ. 



THETt love the country, and none else, who seek 

 For their own sake its silence and its shade.— Cowper. 



To-day, in snow arrayed, stern Winter rules 



The ravaged plain. Anon, the teeming earth 



Unlocks her stores, and Spring adorns the year. — Thomson. 



It is refreshing to have a periodical devoted to the better feelings of our 

 nature, — one willing to record the genial feelings of its subscribers and 

 readers. Such is The Naturalist. BetAveen its two (ever) green leaves, 

 have been treasured up many pleasing facts, which, but for such a medium, 

 might never have seen the light. Lovers of nature, properly so called, are 

 not a very numerous body ; it must therefore be very delightful for them to 

 possess a (ihannel of their own, in which to breathe an interchange of 

 thoughts. 



The old year having passed away, and a new one having dawned, I have 

 felt disposed to imitate my good friends the birds, by shaking my wings a 

 little ; — the more readily, seeing that the unusual mildness of the season has 

 prematurely induced a tendency towards that feeling in man and animals 

 generally. 



Winter, known as such, has not yet appeared amongst us. In its stead, 

 however, we have had a long succession of trying weather, injurious in its 



