370 FACTS AND INFERENCES, GRAVE AND GAY. 



the disencumbered human soul, and which even the 

 sombre Dante has named angelical. 



" Non v'accorgete voi, che noi siam vermi, 

 Nati a formar 1'aDgelica farfalla." 



Every pool of water is pregnant with life ; each lonely 

 moor or old deserted quarry, which scarcely " feels in its 

 barrenness one touch cf spring," is the chosen abode of 

 thousands of living creatures, of small dimensions it is 

 true, but of singular beauty, both of form and structure, 

 and often adorned with hues 



" Which make the rose's blush of beauty pale, 

 And dim the rich geranium's scarlet blaze." 



Even the pastoral melancholy of the green mountains is 

 enlivened by the occurrence of many interesting species. 

 One of the most beautiful of European coleopterous 

 insects (Carahus nitens) occurs among the peat hags, and 

 other places where heath and turf abound, and where 

 its sparkling coat of gold and green, tinged with a brighter 

 lustre than that of rubies, is singularly contrasted with 

 the blackness of the soil in which it seems imbedded. — 

 Encyclopedia Britannica, Art. Entomology. 



THE SILK- WORM. 



Had these insignificant secreting organs not existed in 

 the silk-worm, or other allied species, what a difference of 



