Sludy of Natural History. 457 



4 very convex protuberances ; abdomen very mucb compressed, 

 not longer than the tliorax, and somewhat elliptical viewed late- 

 rally, with six distinct segments, and a short exserted slender pro- 

 cess at the apex : wings ample, very transparent, iridescent ; supe- 

 rior with asubcostal nervature reaching nearly to the middle, where 

 it unites with the costa, and a little beyond it forms a short branch, 

 terminated by a minute dot : legs simple and slender ; tarsi five- 

 jointed, dirty white, darker at the tips (fig. 3 ;/, the natural size) ; 

 length three-fourths of aline, expanse one and two-thirds of a line. 

 The female is scarcely so large, and differs, I think, in having 

 shorter antennae, with a more abrupt club ; the face is very con- 

 cave, forming a broad deep groove : the 3 ocelli are placed in a 

 transverse line at the back of the crown : the eyes are not large, 

 but brown, oval, and remote : the abdomen is very much com- 

 pressed, the back forming a sharp edge, and it is very deep viewed 

 laterally, the apex is truncated, and an oviduct enclosed between 

 two valves projects beyond it ; fig. 4 ; y, the natural size."* 



ARTICLE XLI. — Natural History^ from " Glaucus^ or the 



Wonders of the Shore.''"' \ 



I hav^e said, that there were excuses for the old contempt of the 

 study of Natural History. I have said, too, it may be hoped, 

 enough to show that contempt to be now ill-founded. But still 

 there are those who regard it as a mere amusement, and that as 

 a somewhat effeminate one ; and think that it can at best help to 

 while away a leisure hour harmlessly, and perhaps usefully, as a 

 substitute for coarser sports, or for the reading of novels. Those, 

 however, who have followed it out, especially on the sea-shore, 

 know better. They can tell from experience that over and above 

 its accessory charms of pure sea-breezes, and wild rambles by cliff 

 and loch, the study itself has had a weighty moral effect upon 

 their hearts and spirits. There are those who can well understand 

 how the good and wise John Ellis, amid all his philanthropic 

 labors for the good of the West Indies, while he was spending his 



* Mr, Haliday Las described two more species of this genus in vol. iii. of 

 the Trans, of the Ent. Soc, p. 295 ; he found all of them in various wild 

 flowers. 



f Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore, bj Charles Kingsley, author of 

 •'Amyas Leigh," "Hypatia," c&c. American edition ; 'Qo&ion, T'icknor and 

 Fields, 1855. 



