40 ON READIXG. 



SU3 testaceous ; intermediate thighs dilated, angulated, pale ochreous, an- 

 nulated with brown, tiie inferior angulated lines slightly serrated; a 

 prominent, piceous, acute, robust spine beneath near the tip : tibiae 

 greenish, slightly serrated on the inner side : tarsus testaceous : posterior 

 thighs brownish, ochreous, with a prominent, piceous, acute, robust 

 spjne near the tip beneath. 



Female. Body cinereous, more robust than that of the male: thighs 

 nearly equal : intermediate and posterior pairs with the subterminal 

 spines very short." 



I presume the Dr-s. will be found to be this species ; if it is not, 

 then it has never been described, and he should write out a full descrip- 

 tion, give it a name and publish it in the Journal. The insect Say des- 

 cribes is by no means common, and its occurrence in .such immense 

 nund)ers at one place only adds another to the already numerous won- 

 derliil and interesting phenomena in the geographical distributions of 

 insects. J, G. M. 



ON RKADING. NO. II. 



" Nothing, in truth, has such a tendency to weaken not only the powers of in- 

 vention, but the intellectual powers in general, as a habit of extensive and various 

 reading, without reflection. " Dugald Stewart. 



Indulgence in miscellaneous reading fosters bad habits : and the im- 

 mense number of publications of all hinds, thrown in our way, renders 

 us liable to this indulgence. Under miscellaneous reading are to be in- 

 cluded not only icorks of fiction distinctively, but also that light reading 

 which so much abounds in our numerous periodicals, and their multi- 

 tudinous articles of a somewhat graver tone. Or to express still more 

 fully our meaning by indulgence in miscellaneous reading is to be un- 

 derstood a habit of reading miscellaneously, and the assertion is, that 

 this is productive of bad effecls. 



It would be very unwise indeed to object to the reading of Periodi- 

 cals. At this day, tlie man, or the boy, who never looks into a news- 

 paper or magazine will find himself far behind his fellows in much that 

 is valuable, and which he is bound to know ; and will be sadly defi- 

 cient in one of the characteristics of an intelligent citizen. But he who 

 makes them his chief reading will soon find that he is wasting time 

 ♦that might be profitably employed, and will acquire a disrelish for that 

 which is of a more solid and permanently useful character. Whatever 

 value many of the articles may possess, their great variety will prevent 

 proper reflection, and the eye will soon learn to run over a page, and 



