CORRESPONDENCE. 49 
whole range of organized beings, a 
series of phenomena closely linked 
together, and upon it are based not 
only the higher manifestations of the 
mind, but the very permanence of 
the specific differences which charac- 
terise every organ. Most of the argu- 
ments of philosophy in fayour of the 
immortality of man, apply equally 
to the permanency of this principle 
in other living beings.” 
PrRoressor AGASSIZ. 
** No one can doubt that the roots, 
as it were, of those great faculties 
which confer on man his immeasur- 
able superiority above all other 
animate things, are traceable far down 
into the animate world. The dog, 
the cat, and the parrot, return love 
for our love, and hatred for our 
hatred. They are capable of shame 
and sorrow, and though they may 
have no logic nor conscious ratioci- 
nation, no one who has watched 
their ways can doubt that they pos- 
sess that power of rational cerebra- 
tion which eyolves reasonable acts 
from the premises furnished by the 
senses—a process which takes fully 
as large a share as conscious reason 
in human activity.” 
PrRoressor OWEN. 
Moxes.—The Cosmos relates an in- 
teresting experiment, which proves 
the service rendered to agriculturists 
by moles, and the impolicy of de- 
stroying these little quadrupeds. In 
a commune of the Canton of Zurich, 
the municipal council were lately 
about to proceed to the selection of 
a molecatcher, when M. Weber, a 
distinguished naturalist, laid before 
the board the following facts. M. 
Weber had carefully examined the 
stomachs of fifteen moles caught in 
different localities, but failed to dis- 
coyer therein the slightest vestige of 
plants or of roots; whereas they 
were filled by the remains of earth- 
worms. M. Weber, not satisfied by 
this fact, shut up several moles in a 
box containing sods of earth on 
which fresh grass was growing, and 
a smaller case of grubs and earth- 
worms. In nine days two moles de- 
voured 341 white worms, 193 earth- 
worms, 26 caterpillars, and a mouse, 
skin and bones, which had been en- 
closed when alive in the box. M. 
Weber next gave them raw meat, 
cut up in small pieces, mixed with 
vegetables ? the moles ate the meat 
and left the plants. He next gave 
them nothing but vegetables; in 24 
hours two moles died of starvation. 
Another naturalist calculated that 
two moles destroyed 20,000 white 
worms in a single year. These facts 
ought to convince farmers that tomul- 
tiply the moles would be much better 
than to destroy them, and the earth 
they turn up enriches the land, so 
much so, that the produce is often 
doubled. 
FUNERAL or A Bre.—A _ corres- 
pondent transmits the following :— 
**On Sunday morning last I had the 
pleasure of witnessing a most in- 
teresting ceremony, which I desire 
to record for the benefit of your 
readers; and if Dr. Cumming, the 
Times’ beemaster, happens to be one 
of them, I would particularly com- 
mend it to his notice. Whilst 
walking with a friend in a garden 
near Falkirk, we observed two bees 
issuing from one of the hives, bearing 
betwixt them the body of a defunct 
comrade, with which they flew for a 
distance of ten yards. We followed 
them closely, and noted the care with 
which they selected a convenient hole 
at the side of the gravel walk—the 
tenderness with which they com- 
mitted the body, head downwards, 
to the carth—and the solicitude with 
which they afterwards pushedagainst 
it two little stones, doubtless ‘in 
memoriam.’ Their task being ended, 
they paused for about a minute, per- 
haps to drop over the grave of their 
friend a sympathising tear, when 
they flew away, and, as John Bunyan 
says in his dream, ‘I saw them no 
more.’ ’’— Glasgow Herald. 
Tue Humuine Brrp Morn.—Is it 
not rather remarkable that the Hum- 
ming Bird Hawk Moth has not yet 
appeared? After such a super-abun- 
dant supply of them last season, it 
seems strange that none are about 
now. They were out very late last 
year too. I saw one on Bledlow 
Ridge in November. 
A Youne Entomotocisr. 
v 
R. M. Bypy-4'\ 
