THE MANTIS.-THE NEST 101 



neighbour tormented by some refractory molar. " Lend 

 me thy tigno : I am suffering martyrdom I" begs the 

 owner of a swollen face. — " Don't on any account lose 

 it 1 " says the lender : " I haven't another, and we aren't 

 at the right time of moon I " 



We will not laugh at the credulous victim ; many a 

 remedy triumphantly puffed on the latter pages of the 

 newspapers and magazines is no more effectual. More- 

 over, this rural simplicit3; is surpassed by certain old 

 books which form the tomb of the science of a past age. 

 An English naturalist of the sixteenth century, the 

 well-known physician, Thomas Moffat, informs us that 

 children lost in the country would inquire their way 

 of the Mantis. The insect consulted would extend a 

 limb, indicating the direction to be taken, and, says the 

 author, scarcely ever was the insect mistaken. This 

 pretty story is told in Latin, with an adorable siinplicity. 



